To The End of the World, All the Way to Sylvarant
by true2love
Summary: What if Zelos had followed Sheena on her mission to assassinate the Chosen of Sylvarant? For Sheelos fans CHAPTER 14 UP
1. Chapter 1: The King Said No

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Zelos Wilder, Sheena Fujibayashi or any other character. They rightfully belong to Namco and the Tales of series.**

**What if Zelos had followed Sheena on her mission to assassinate the Chosen of Sylvarant? ^^**

**This chapter is short, but it's the first one so bear with it. The other will be longer, so don't worry.**

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**EDIT: Thanks to one of my good friends, I'll be fixing a couple of things in each chapter. So if you like, you can re-read the whole thing and it'll be much better! Thank you = ) & Enjoy.**

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**Chapter One**

**The King Said No**

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"The answer is no. You are forbidden to leave Tethe'alla to go to Sylvarant, the degrading world. The people of Tethe'alla cannot let their Chosen One leave!" Tethe'alla's King had yelled at the particular red-head.

After hearing about Mizuho's plan to assassinate Sylvarant's Chosen, and how it was Sheena Fujibayashi who had volunteered to accomplish this mission, Zelos Wilder, the one and only Chosen One of Tethe'alla, had asked the King for permission to join her on her mission.

"Aww! Come on!" Zelos said in his whinny voice.

"We cannot take the risk your life being wasted this way… don't you think, Chosen One?" The King had answered with a smile this time, but apart from his duty as Chosen, Zelos thought something in that smile was making allusion to his mother's death.

All smile gone in his face, Zelos faked a laugh he was so used to faking.

"Hey, I'm just worried she'll get killed, you know. If you won't let me go and protect her and Tethe'alla, then at least send guards with her or something…" Zelos had started.

"This is Mizuho request to send her alone, I merely respect their wish." His Majesty the King said in a voice Zelos found rather disgustingly cold.

Anger burned in him as he thought of her village wanting her dead and this stupid King that didn't care one bit.

However, Zelos' mask could not be broken that easily.

"Okay, then"

With that, the Chosen walked out and headed back home.

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"Sebastian!" Zelos yelled as he barged in his mansion.

"Yes, sir?" Sebastian said as if he had just appeared.

"Oh" his butler was sure good at appearing out of nowhere, "Pack my bags, I'm going."

"If I may ask, were to, Master Zelos?"

The Chosen brushed some hair back and smiled at nothing. "I'll go after her, Sebastian. It's my duty to protect her!"

His butler nodded and headed to do what he was told. "I take it you are talking about lady Sheena of Mizuho. Your things will be ready in a moment"

Zelos laughed silently thinking how his butler he grew so close to knew him so well. This man had did his best to have Zelos raised properly after his parents death, but there was now an attachment neither of them could deny. Apart from his half-sister who is locked away in the Southeast abbey, his butler was his closest form of family.

"Thanks, Sebastian!"

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"You ready, Corrine?"

The little summon spirit nodded. "Remember, Sheena… for the sake of Tethe'alla."

"It's ready!" a man announced proudly.

Sheena Fujibayashi stood in front of the gateway to the other world as it started to spin, creating a glowing light. She was about to travel to Sylvarant, were only very few men from this base had put foot. She couldn't help but feel nervous. She had to find the Chosen of Sylvarant and assassinate her to protect Tethe'alla, while in a completely different world.

"Sheena Fujibayashi, we wish you luck" the men lowered their heads to her. Corrine climbed on her shoulder in one quick motion and nudged her comfortingly.

Sheena took a quick breath and marched in the gateway, where she disappeared almost instantly.

"May the goddess bring her success" one of the leaders renegade said.

"Sheena! Sheena!"

The summoner lifted her eyelids with difficulty as she felt her head spin. "Sheena!" she heard a relieved Corrine say. She sat up slowly to find herself on a beach in what seemed like Sylvarant.

"Did we make it?" she asked, confused.

"Yes! This is Sylvarant!" Corrine answered.

Sheena got up excitedly, regaining her full abilities. "Alright!"

But then a thought hit her, "Um, so… where are we, Corrine?"

"A deserted island"

"Whaaat? How could this happen? Oh no! What are we going to do?"

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**Author's note:**** Next chapter will be longer and it's already up, so read and review please^^**

**I'm trying to make them meet as soon as possible, since the whole point of this story is for them to be in Sylvarant **_**together.**_


	2. Chapter 2: Off to Sylvarant

**Here's the new and improved Chapter 2! = ) Hope you like it!**

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**Chapter Two**

**Off To Sylvarant**

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"So, she already left, huh?"

"Yes, Chosen One, those are the news from the Renegade's base," the King answered him.

"Oh, well… let's hope she makes it!" Zelos smiled his fake smile with fake enthusiasm. "Hey, um can I use the secret passage way through the dungeon? You see, your Highness, I've got to get rid of those girls out there… A guy's needs to breathe, you know?" he laughed.

"Very well, you may –" the King had started.

"Thanks!" the Chosen had called, running off.

The King sighed disappointingly at the Chosen's carelessness as his daughter, Princess Hilda, giggled.

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"Oh! Good morning, Chosen One!" a castle maid said, startled as Zelos passed her, still running.

"Good morning! Sorry 'bout this!" he called as he kept running and waving a hand.

"No need for apologizing, Chosen One!" she called after him, blushing madly.

Zelos kept running. There was no time for this. Taking the other exit of the castle was to escape these things. If Sheena was already in Sylvarant, she was already in danger. Maybe her village didn't care if she died, but he sure as hell did.

He rushed through the prison cells, finding that a familiar-looking blue-haired muscular man was eyeing him curiously.

There was no time for that either. Whoever the man was, he'd think about it later.

When he finally got out of the castle, he passed the castle door as subtly as possible; he did not need those 15 girls after him right now.

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"She's already in Sylvarant!" Zelos called as he got in his mansion. Once again his butler, Sebatian, was there the moment he arrived.

"Your things are on your bed, sir," he explained.

"Thanks, Sebastian, take care of the house, will ya?" the red-head called as he climbed up the stairs two by two.

"I always do," the butler said, heading back to his duties.

Upstairs, Zelos scooped up his bag and step out of the back window. He looked back at the picture of his mother, "Don't worry mom, I'll be back." Despite how bitter those words tasted he materialized his golden wings and flew out of the window.

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"Hey! Heeey!" Sheena shouted at a boat that she had spotted in the ocean. "Heeeeyy!"

She saw the boat finally turned her way; she could finally get off this stupid island.

It was a small boat of two fishermen who had been kind enough to stop on her island.

"We couldn't possibly let a beautiful young lady like yourself all lonely on that island," one of the men said, giving her a missing-teeth-smile.

Despite the constant staring at her chest, she managed to give them her thanks. She was fighting the urged to slap them both and throw them overboard. Why was it so easy to knock some sense into the perverted Chosen, but she wouldn't allow herself to do so with perfect strangers?

But putting that pervert aside, she had a mission to fulfill. "So, may I ask where this boat is heading to?"

"Izoold"

She didn't want to ask where Izoold was. For all she knew it could be the equivalent of Meltokio, the biggest city.

During the boat ride to Izoold and enduring the constant staring, Sheena couldn't help but compare Zelos to these men. Zelos at least showed respect and his stares always came with compliments.

Keeping her mind on her mission and how she would find her way to Sylvarant's Chosen was becoming difficult when the sea, the only thing she could see in every direction, reminded her so much of the other Chosen's eyes.

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"Stop him! He's getting away!"

Chaos had arrived with the recognizable attack of the Chosen: Judgement. Zelos had trashed the Renegade base after the guards wouldn't allow him access. As soon as he finally managed to first,_ find_ the room to the gateway to Sylvarant and reach that room, the Chosen casted one of his magical attacks, Grave, which successfully separated him from the renegades that were after him.

Letting out a breath of relief, he started pressing every button that looked techy, which were, as he expected, all of them.

He could hear that his wannabe wall wasn't going to last much longer. Panic was replaced by relief when the gateway started to light up and swirl.

He was out of here.

"Farewell, my good men! You almost manage to stop the Great Zelos Wilder!" he shouted as he ran straight into the gateway to the other world, where he disappeared in a flash of light.

"Damnit!" one of the renegades shouted, "Alert the Commander Botta!" They all ran out of the room, as no one wanted to risk following the Chosen into the unknown world.

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"Urr…"

Zelos stirred in something warm and sand-like. He sat up dizzily while gripping his head.

"Crazy transporter…" He tried to get up but the fight earlier had taken a lot out of him, especially by casting Judgement, and he fell to his knee, clearly too dizzy to stand.

But Sheena could be anywhere by now. He tried to get up again, but fell to his knees once more. "Are you kidding me?" he complained "Get up you stupid legs!"

He finally thought to look where he was. He was on a beach with nothing particular except a huge rock behind him. He seemed to be on an island probably somewhere in Sylvarant. "Hey, is anyone here?" he asked loudly, and then he asked himself, "What language do people in Sylvarant even speak?" Then again, if the legend was true, and that Tethe'alla and Sylvarant were originally one, the language couldn't be that different. Although it has been over 4000 years…

He turned to shout again but spotted a small animal's footprints in the sand, stopping him, wondering if the animal was still around. His eyes followed the trail of the animal to find that it had stopped at a much bigger print left in sand. Right beside that print where boot prints that led to the water.

That was strange, it looked like the animal had transformed into a human. "I take it there are monsters here too… Still, transforming like that…" he wondered out loud.

Then it hit him. "Sheena! Of course!" all of a sudden he had the strength to get up. "And that – that fur-ball!"

He ran to where Sheena's footprints had been erased in the water. Looking up at the horizon where he stood, he force his eyes to see what he thought was land. It looked very far away, how far he couldn't tell, but without a word he materialized his wings and started to fly to civilisation.

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Here she was in Izoold, the village of fishermen, or so, that was what people had told her. The thick odour of fish wasn't very welcoming to her taste.

She thanked the men who had brought her here for their kindness and walked away from the port, hoping to find clues about her target. She noticed pretty quickly that the two men were following her. That could only mean trouble. Nevertheless, she chose to ignore them as she kept walking, not knowing where her feet would lead her.

Would you look at that, her feet led her in a dead end. 'Oh well' she thought, 'I didn't want to hurt the men who saved me, but they asked for it.' The well-trained ninja turned around to face the idiots who decided to stalk her.

The first man looked at her with an ugly smile "Heh, sorry m'dear, but you haven't thanked us properly for saving your beautiful self"

The second laughed at got out a crow bar, "Be a good girl… heh… please?"

Sheena smiled sweetly, "Oh, my, where are my manners," and in a second she was airborne. The men had little time to prepare their weapons before she dropped down behind them. She rose quickly and landed a swift kick to one of the man's temple. He was thrown to the ground by the force of impact and laid there, unconscious. The other man stepped back, very surprised by the girl's strength, but forced himself to lung at her. Sheena jumped back and landed on her hands before she spun and doubled-kicked the man to the ground. She decided he was in enough pain and ran back into the roads as she heard the remaining conscious man demand she'd come back, and that they weren't finished with her.

She ignored him completely. Not much time was led out in front of her; she had to find out where the Chosen of Regeneration was and end her World Regeneration Journey as soon as possible.

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**Author's note: Next chapter they meet! I promise!**

**Don't forget to review = )**

**& For those of you who are re-reading this, is it any better? Please tell me.**


	3. Chapter 3: Two Chosens to Take Care Of

**I changed some more stuff in this chapter, too.**

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**Chapter Three**

**Two Chosens To Take Care Of**

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Leaving the town's inn early in the morning, Sheena headed for the town's entrance, ready to hike the mountain the owner of the inn had called the Ossa Trail. The inn's owner had told her that the latest news on the whereabouts of the Chosen's party was that they were heading to the Triet Ruins. Apparently, that was where the first seal was, and if that was where the first seal was, that's where she would go, even if it meant hiking a mountain and crossing a desert.

After all, she was here to make Mizuho proud again, proud of her, there was no place in her mind for complaints. She was going to accomplish her mission without fail.

Tired, Zelos walked on the shore on his way to what looked like a small fishing town. He had landed from his long flight quite a distance from the town so no one would notice his wings, but now he was thinking the distance had been maybe too far away. What time was it? He couldn't tell anymore. He had spent the night flying here, since the sun was now rising, and his bag only seemed to get heavier.

"Sheeenaa… please be in there", he complained in a tired voice. He just wanted to rest knowing that she was alright.

He managed to arrive at the village, where he threw his bag on the ground. He stared a moment at the town. '_This is Sylvarant?_' he thought, '_Looks more like I've gone back in time than to Sylvarant!_'

A young woman spotted him standing there and couldn't resist the look of this traveler's face. She searched through her basket and took out a piece of bread as she walked to the redheaded traveler. "You must be hungry, here you go", the brunette said, handing him the bread.

His eyes lit up instantly. "Why thank you, hunny! I didn't know there were angels with such kindness here", he thanked her, taking the much needed bread, "You must have been watching over me."

Cheeks red, she couldn't find an answer, but feeling as though her silence was inappropriate she quickly got some fruit out of her basket. "I-I, I mean have these, too! And, and you should – here!" she shoved her basket in the hands of the Chosen, "You can take everything, I have plenty home", she smiled, "you can come, if you, well, if you need more," and rushed home.

All too pleased, Zelos quickly took a bite of the generously given bread. Though, he had to admit, that was far easier than with the women back in Meltokio.

He spotted the local inn and was inside moments later, food in hand.

A woman greeted him at the counter with a smile. "May I help you, young man?" she asked.

"Yes, mam, I'd like a room, but first thing first, have you, by any chances, seen a young woman with black hair and a pink ribbon around her waist pass here?" he asked before taking another bite of his bread.

"Yes, I believe I have, but I remember her leaving town only half an hour ago."

Zelos nearly choked on his food, "Where was she heading?" he asked.

"I am not sure, she was looking for the Chosen One and her party, said she had a message to deliver her", the woman explained, "I told her she would probably be in Triet."

"Where's Triet?"

"It's West from here, pass the mountains in the desert. For a traveler, I'm surprised you don't know this" she answered. '_Oh yeah…_' he thought, '_I'm supposed to from here."_

"Thank you!" he ran off with his bag and basket of food. There was no time to sleep, not when he was that close to her.

"Sir, Your room!" the woman called after him, but it was no good, as he was already out of town.

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She guessed she was about half-way up by now, or at least, she hoped. She shifted her bag and marched up the trail with more determination. "That Chosen better be in that desert, right, Corrine?" she turned to her fox friend who had slowed down behind her, "…What's wrong?" she asked, noticing he was looking back at the trail.

"Someone's following us," Corrine answered without looking back at her.

She waited for the follower to make his presence noticeable for her senses too, dropped her bag on the ground and getting her cards ready in the process. Soon enough she heard a voice, calling something. She found it was a somewhat familiar voice. Only when she heard it was her name the voice was calling, did she know exactly who the voice belonged too. She let out an irritated sigh and put away her cards.

"Shee-! Sheena!" the voice sounded out of breath as he came running in view.

"Zelos," she said. Despite her irritation, she couldn't help feeling a spark of warmness to know he had followed her all the way to Sylvarant. She didn't think she would've been able to see him again since the night before her departure to Sylvarant. Whether it was because she was going to die or not, she didn't dare think of it.

Unlike her, Corrine growled when he saw Tethe'alla's Chosen.

"Sheena!" Zelos ran straight in for a hug with his favourite hunny, nearly knocking her off balance.

"Zelos!" she said, pushing him away, "What are you doing here? You're Tethe'alla's Chosen for Goddess' sake! You should have stayed put in Meltokio!"

He smiled. "Aww, my favourite hunny is worried about me! I missed you too, sweetheart!" he said, hugging her again.

"Zelos!" she smacked him. Maybe her bottom didn't need so much hugging, he thought. He laughed to himself while rubbing his damaged cheek. She glared at him furiously, but quickly calmed herself down, realizing he hadn't come close to answering her question.

"You came all the way here just to grab me? Weren't there enough women back in Meltokio?" she accused him, and his perverted ways.

"Well, maybe I followed you here to get a taste of the women in Sylvarant?" he simply answered with one of his goofy smile.

"I can't believe you! I don't have time for this," she said, turning back up the mountain and trying to make up for the lost time, "I can't have two Chosens to look out for! Finding this Colette Brunel is hard enough without having to protect you!"

He immediately laughed. "What are you talking about?" he asked, "Listen," he caught up with her and forced her to look at him, "I'm here for _you_, okay? I'll protect my own sorry self since I'm the idiot who followed you. If anything, let _me_ protect _you_." He pulled away, surprised by his words. He blushed a bit when he saw that she was just as surprised.

That surprised look on her face quickly vanished and was soon replaced by irritation. "I don't have time for this," she mumbled as she headed back up the mountain. He watched her go, spotting the little creature, Corrine, hiss as he followed Sheena.

Zelos sighed and followed her up that mountain, a smile spreading across his face. He missed her more than he thought.

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**Author's note: Now the story can actually begin!**

**Please tell me if I did anything wrong. It's the only way I'll improve.**

**R&R**


	4. Chapter 4: Take 1

**I made this chapter much longer by describing the battle between Sheena and the others. I hope you'll like it. = )**

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**Chapter Four**

**Take 1**

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****.

Zelos sat with his back against a rock, munching on the remaining food that was in the basket the young girl from Izoold had generously given to him, making sure Sheena didn't want any before doing so. He didn't insist when she said no. With skipping a night's sleep, he needed as much energy he could get his hands on to keep his eyes open. He had to admit though, the sight of Sheena's exceptional body kept his eyes open pretty well.

On her side, Sheena was enjoying the calmness right now. Zelos hadn't complained once during the way up the mountain, nor had he bothered with her decision to wait for the Chosen, Colette, and her party to ambush them.

Sheena looked away from where she was looking out for the Chosen's party, studying the Chosen sitting a short distance away from her, eyes closed as he rested against a rock. He looked exhausted. She wondered why and decided to ask. "Zelos?" she called softly, not wanting to make their presence noticeable.

"Hmm?" he asked tiredly, slowly opening his eyes, "What is it, Sheena, hunny?" he turned his head to her, only managing to form a sleepy smile.

He looked so cute like that, she let the nickname slide. "Are you alright?" she asked, a little worried. Maybe the end of the world was near and that's why the usual energized Zelos isn't here.

He laughed silently and rubbed his eyes. "I'm just tired I guess," he said, and then added a laugh, "Can't even come up with something to say." He laid his head back on the rock and closed his eyes once more. "Sorry."

She watched him carefully, wondering if he was really alright, but before she could say something, the assassin heard footsteps coming. She quickly returned to her watch. She spotted a man in purple clothing appear on the trail down from her. The man was soon followed by a younger man dressed in red, a blonde girl and two elves. One was a woman with silver hair and the other was a young boy with the same hair color.

Sheena signalled Zelos to come look. Quietly doing so, Zelos quickly recognized the swordsman in purple. What was a member of Cruxis doing with these people? That could only mean… '_That girl… She must be Sylvarant's Chosen,' _he thought. He couldn't tell this information to Sheena though neither could he let himself be seen by that man. His cover would be blown in both ways.

Thankfully, Sheena was a well-trained ninja. After all, she hadn't been sent here for nothing. She asked for his attention by pointing at the blonde girl's neck. Zelos noticed her Cruxis Crystal there. Sheena then touched his Cruxis Crystal and looked up to meet eyes with him for his approval. Tethe'alla's Chosen happily nodded and winked at her. She nodded in understanding and got up.

"Stop!"

Startled, the group quickly looked up to where the voice had come from. Zelos carefully hid himself from them, but he had his hand on the hilt of his sword. He didn't trust the Cruxis member one bit and feared his strength. He would protect Sheena from him if he dared hurt her.

With elegance, Sheena jumped down to their level, landed easily and stood in a superior way. Zelos tensed in his hiding spot, seeing that man grab the hilt of his sword defiantly.

The young man in red was the first to speak. "What?" he asked confused.

"Is she a friend of yours, Lloyd?" the blonde girl curiously asked the one who had spoken sooner.

"Not that I'm aware of…" the guy in red, Lloyd she had called him, said.

'_What idiots,' _Zelos thought, _'how can they possibly be the Chosen's party?'_

"… Is the Chosen of Mana among you?" Sheena asked them, with annoyance if Zelos would say.

"Oh, that's me," the blonde girl, stated happily with no idea of anything that was going on. '_Colette was what Sheena said her name was, right?'_ Zelos asked himself.

Turning to the Chosen of Mana, Sheena readied her cards. "… Prepare to die!" she said, just before dashing towards the blonde girl.

Startled, the girl tripped over something as the guy in red, Lloyd, dashed towards Sheena to protect the girl. In less than a second, a trap door opened right under Sheena's feet. Zelos held himself back as Sheena fell in the trap door. He did know she'd be okay.

"Oh no!" the girl got up and stared at the hole, "What should I do? I did it again…"

"You don't need to worry about it," the elven woman said, "If she had not fallen in, you might have been killed." Zelos wondered what the name of that voice was.

"But…" the girl, Colette, looked worried as she knelt down.

"Don't worry about it. Looks like she's an enemy" the red one explained to her.

"I hope she's okay," the girl kept worrying. Zelos was starting to wonder what her deal was.

"Even assuming her weight to be 45kg," the boy elf started, "and this hole to be 10 meters deep, and calculating the gravity constant at 9.8 per square second, the impact shouldn't have been fatal," he explained.

This information reassured Zelos quite a bit, until his mind made the calculation himself. If that hole was 10 meters deep and Sheena's weight was 45kg, it'd mean she'd hit the ground at 14 meters per second. That meant it was a good 50.4km/h drop. There was no way she was uninjured. After that, he didn't care much about the conversation and waited impatiently for them to continue their way so he could go save Sheena.

Finally leaving, Zelos jumped down and ran up to the hole. He could hear the sound of Corrine's voice calling Sheena's named. His worry only increased, the fall may not have been fatal, but she had to be hurt. '_You better be in one piece,_' he thought as he materializing his wings and flew down the hole.

"Sheena!" Corrine called once more as Zelos landed on the ground and put his wings away. He felt exhausted and materializing his wings hadn't been a good idea. Spotting Sheena's unconscious body, he quickly grabbed her hand a casted his First Aid spell. Having no energy left, he drifted off to sleep next to her, still holding her hand.

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"Sheena! Sheena!"

She lifted her eyelids and focused on the one calling her name. "Sheena!" Corrine said, relieved to see she was okay. She sat up and reached a hand to her head, then noticed her other hand had been captured by Zelos'. Blushing, she looked at his face, only to find him not smiling. "What happened to him, Corrine?" she asked worriedly.

"He drained out his energy and fell asleep," Corrine explained.

Sheena looked back at the sleeping Chosen and released her hand from his, hesitatingly running her fingers through his long wild hair, a smile tugging on her lips.

"Sheena, they are close" Corrine said, turning to face an exit to the cave.

'_I will not fail this time,' _she thought as she got up, but paused to look, perhaps one last time, at him. Pushing that thought away she headed towards the exit. _'Don't worry, Zelos … I'll come back.'_

She ran to the exit and busted the wooden door open. There they were. "…W…wait!" she force herself to say.

Lloyd spoke first once again. "…Wow, she caught up with us." She thought he looked pretty nervous to see her again.

"Oh, thank goodness," Sylvarant's Chosen said. '_Why is she happy to see I'm alright?' _Sheena thought.

This was getting stupid. "…D…don't move!" the assassin threatened weakly.

"A wise decision," the elf woman said.

"…I won't be caught off guard this time!" Sheena continued with more force, not caring what the elf meant by that, "Prepare to die!" She took out one of her grandfather's guardian cards and summoned it to life. It shrieked a piercing call from within its beak and attacked the oldest among the group, who took no time to strike the first blow with his double-edged sword. She saw Colette materialized a pair of pink sparkling wings as she began to fight alongside the man while staying a good distance away from Sheena's guardian.

She didn't expect them to be so strong as a team, let alone as individuals. The boy named Lloyd was surprisingly dangerous, swinging his two swords around like that. Fortunately, he was very predictable and dodging his attacks wasn't a problem for her ninja skills. She successfully kicked one of his swords out of his hand and slashed a deep cut in his chest with her cards, cutting the red fabric of his clothes along with his flesh. He fell to the ground and cried in pain.

"Lloyd!" Sylvarant's Chosen called, and immediately flew to his side. "Raine!"

"Right!" the elf woman said as she place her staff perpendicularly with the ground.

Sheena was already in front of the elven boy with silver hair who was casting a spell as quickly as he could. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't fast enough, and just as he began to say the name of his attack, the final words of incantation, she sliced at his chest, too, and he fell to the ground with tears flooding his eyes.

"First Aid!"

Sheena's eyes darted to the elf woman Colette had called Raine. She was a healer, this was very bad news. She had to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Raine saw her coming and readied her staff, showing absolutely no fear despite how vulnerable she was. Sheena was sure she saw hatred in her eyes, so she returned the favor. Before she could strike, two flying disks blocked her way, cutting off a little of her raven black hair as they passed before her. She jumped back and watched the disks return to their owner, who was revealed to be Colette. Beside her she noticed the double swordsman was up on his feet, relieved from his wound she had inflicted him and was charging straight at her.

"Why you-!" Lloyd angrily said before slashing at her. He was probably close to the elf boy, something very uncommon in Tethe'alla. She wondered if it was the same in Sylvarant as she dodged more of his attacks.

Meanwhile Raine and Colette had rushed to the elf boy's side. Sheena cursed to herself, assuming they were going to heal him as well. She had to get to that healer.

She jumped high above Lloyd and ran to the three, throwing a card in front of her in the process and inducing her Pyre Seal just as she got close enough to her two main targets and the already wounded boy. The three were thrown back in an explosion of cards just as she heard her guardian let out one final cry. It had been beaten, but no matter, she was so close to ending the life of the elf woman.

"Demon Fang!" That Lloyd guy was so persistent. She dodged the attack by jumping in the air and was pleased to see the attack now going straight at the healer. Luck had never been on her side though, and Raine quickly set up a force field to protect herself. "Focus, Lloyd!" She yelled at him angrily.

Sheena heard him apologize before a shadow covered her form. She looked up, still in mid-air. It was the other swordsman, his swords was raised and was brought down on her before she could blink. At this point, it was all she could do not to be cut in half.

After that blow, she remembered falling to the ground painfully and a sword was pointed to her neck. She was defeated.

The man in purple, who she still did not know the name, drew his sword, clearly wanted to end her life, but the three youngest stopped him.

"Ugh… Just you wait!" she taunted, lifting herself up with difficulty, "I swear I will kill you all next time!" And with that she threw a smokescreen, temporarily blinding her enemies, and made her escape back in the cave.

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"Sheena, let me go get some gels for you!" Corrine insisted.

"It's alright, Corrine, I'm fine," the assassin insisted as well. She was already in a bad mood because of her failure and to top it off, Zelos was still sleeping. She couldn't believe it.

Corrine didn't like this at all. An idea came to his mind. He remembered that stupid Chosen using magic to heal her moments ago. With this in mind, the summon spirit bit Zelos' ear, earning a loud cry and a deathly glare. "You little –, what the hell was that for?" Zelos asked the creature angrily. Corrine pointed with his head to Sheena and Zelos instantly looked.

"Sheena! What in the world happened to you?" he asked, worry evident in his face.

She looked away stubbornly. She couldn't believe how weak she was. "I failed," she stated.

Zelos simply held out his hand. The summoner stared at it, wondering what he was waiting for. "I want you to give me your hand," he explained. "What? No way!" she protested. He laughed, "Look, it's ether you give me your hand, or I'll have to touch your wounds," he said, eyeing the one she had just above her left breast.

"You pervert!" she shouted, slapping him across the face, but he caught her hand before she could harm his pretty face. "There," he said, smiling, "was that so hard?" he laughed before casting his First Aid spell.

Her wounds were healed, but still she wasn't in any shape to continue pursuing the Chosen of Mana. So he scooped her up bridal style. "What are you doing put me down!" she demanded, pushing him and hitting him all the way out of the cave.

"Hmm… Where do you think they went?" Zelos asked, ignoring the protest of the demonic banshee in him arms.

"I don't know!" she shouted as she kept trying to get herself free from the Chosen's grip.

"Okay then," he said and marched down the rest of the mountain.

"Where are you going?" she shouted, "Zelos!"

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**Author's note: Next chapter there'll be more freedom to work with, since there won't be any interactions with Lloyd and the others, just Zelos and Sheena = ) .. and some creapy fishermen.**

**Please review and tell me what you think! = )**


	5. Chapter 5: Never Again

**Updated just a little bit! ; )**

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**Chapter Five**

**Never Again**

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****.

They had headed back to Izoold to, first of all, eat the local seafood that Zelos had to admit wasn't so bad for people of Sylvarant, and second, to gather information about where the Chosen had headed to. There was no sight of the Chosen, but the fishermen did say they saw a blonde girl and her group of four take a boat to Palmascosta. It was getting pretty late, but Sheena insisted on taking a boat to what people said to be the biggest city in Sylvarant. Unfortunately, no boats were left in Izoold, well except for one with two familiar looking men on it that Sheena didn't want to deal with again. Of course, the idiot Chosen with her wasn't aware of this, so he marched right up to them. Sheena didn't like this one bit, but followed him slowly.

"Give us a ride, men," Zelos said nonchalantly as he threw a small bag of gald on the deck of the boat.

One of the men walked closer to him and picked up the bag, weighing its content. "I think you got yourself a deal," the man said, a repulsing missing-teeth smile appearing on his face.

"Alright, Sheena, come on we have a ride!" Zelos called to her cheerfully.

'_Just Great…'_ she thought.

The man speaking with Zelos looked at her with angry eyes, no, more like pissed-off eyes. "She your friend?" he asked the red-head as he pointed towards the ninja. Zelos didn't miss this and he didn't like that look. "Yeah," he answered coldly, "She's _my_ friend." He didn't like how the man's expression didn't change with those words.

Zelos made sure he was the one helping Sheena on the boat, and this time, Sheena easily gave him her hand. Although she could beat the men again, the feeling that they'd see her coming made her uncomfortable. She quietly sat on a bench that had been placed on the deck, feeling more comfortable when Zelos came to sit by her side.

No one spoke as the two men set sea. Zelos didn't even realize he was glaring at them the whole time. Sheena noticed though.

"I take it something happened with these men?" Zelos asked her in a whisper, keeping his eyes on the men.

"It's nothing really," she answered, her eyes locked on her hands that lay on her lap.

"Sure doesn't look like nothing."

"They… they're the ones who got me off of the island when I arrived in Sylvarant," she explained quietly, "They wanted a 'thank you' from me when we arrived at Izoold," she paused as she felt Zelos tense up beside her, "It's nothing. They just followed me and I knocked them unconscious."

She lifted her head to watch his reaction. He smiled and winked at her. He knew she was fully capable of defending herself, but he still felt she was uneasy. Now that he knew this, he didn't like the situation they were in either. He wasn't about to tell her that though.

"I've got your back, m'kay?" he said, smiling and putting an arm over her shoulder. She shook him off but he saw it reassured her a bit.

"So," one of the muscular men said as he walked up to them, "you guys going to Palmacosta?"

"Yup," Zelos answered.

"I've gotta warn ya," the man said, "heading out to sea at nightfall, 'gets pretty cold," he explained as he turned to the summoner, "especially for a… poorly dressed woman like yourself."

Zelos tensed even more at these words, hand on his sword. "I'm fine, thank you," Sheena said, ignoring the man's comment.

"C'mon, there's a room in the lower floor that you'd be nice and warm in," the other man said as he came up on the deck. Zelos decided to stop this before it went any further.

"_I said,"_ Sheena started, but stopped when she saw Zelos getting up.

"I'd shut up if I were you," Zelos said as he stood between the first man and Sheena.

In less than a second, Zelos was trying to free himself from the man's tight grip around his throat.

"Zelos!" she cried as she got up, but before she could help him, the other man grabbed her arms and held them behind her back, making her cry in pain.

The first man laughed as he tightened his grip on Zelos' throat. "You're the one who should shut up, punk!"

"Damn you," Zelos managed to say.

"Let go of me!" Sheena shouted as she struggled against the man's grip, which didn't help at all, for the man slammed her against the boat's cabin door and tied her hand together in her back.

At that moment, Corrine appeared and bit the man's leg so he would let go of Sheena. Unfazed, the man kicked the little summon spirit into the wall, knocking him out cold.

"Corrine!" Sheena cried as she watched her friend passing out. She tried to get her kunai in her sash, but the man was just too strong. The man ripped the shoulders off her short yukata, making the part above her ribbon fall. She was thankful to have her undershirt still covering her. His laugh was repulsive in every way.

"Now, be a good boy, and watch carefully," the first man warned the red-head and tightened his grip even more. Zelos couldn't find his breath, he couldn't even call her name, all he could do was curse the men a thousand times in his head.

The other man turned the summoner around for her to face him and pulled her in his arms. Sheena quickly realized he was trying to get her undershirt off and as a ninja and a strong woman she sure wasn't going to just let him do that. Zelos' life was slipping away, she had to help him.

She kicked the man in between the legs and forced him away from her. Her eyes widened when they met Zelos' pained expression. Zelos wasn't even touching ground anymore and his eyes were closed in… concentration? Who cared? She dashed for the attack, but the man she had just taken care of caught her, opened the cabin door and threw her in with incredible force. The landing was painful since she couldn't use her hands to stop her fall.

The next thing she knew, she heard lightning strike the boat's cabin. Terrified, she screamed and closed her eyes as the memories of Volt haunted her abruptly. She heard everyone fall to the ground on impact. Opening her eyes, the red flames of fire were the only thing she saw.

Then she heard someone coughing hard. It was Zelos. He was on the ground catching his breath. "Zelos!" she called, worry was evident in her voice, and tried to get up unsuccessfully. The man that had been trying to choke him quickly got up from where he had fell and attempted to choke him again.

Tethe'alla's Chosen let out a small laugh this time, a very dark laugh that Sheena had never heard before. He smiled at the ugly face and sliced the man's arm off with one swift motion of his sword. The man cried out in pain, falling back as blood drenched the Chosen's clothes.

The man who had attempted to undress Sheena quickly got up and charged Zelos with a carving knife with mad fury. Something in Zelos' eyes worried Sheena. He didn't look like his normal self at all. He looked… pissed, something she had never seen before.

Zelos greeted the man with a kick to the gut, pushing the man back, charged forward and forced the man on the ground. Before the man had the chance to dodge, Zelos killed him by piercing his heart and dragging his sword all the way down between his legs. He was dead alright.

All that was left was the other man rolling in pain at the loss of his arm, earning Zelos' attention. Sheena had only managed to sit up during that fight, but now reality was that the boat they were on was on fire. She quickly reached for her kunai, cut the ropes restraining her, picked up her summon friend, Corrine, and cradled him in her arms. Meanwhile, Zelos walked over to the carving knife had been dropped, picked it up and walked towards the man in pain.

"_This…_ is how you choke someone," he said before throwing the knife at the man's neck with a flic of the wrist. The knife ended his life right there.

Only then did he feel reality take its place. He looked back at Sheena and quickly looked away when reality showed him how exposed she was. Being on a boat on fire in the ocean was not the place for his perverted comments. Nor was it the time with what had just happened. He knew that much.

"What do we do know?" she asked a little annoyed at the thought that this was his entire fault. He was the one who decided to get on this boat. _'But I was the one who insisted on following Sylvarant's Chosen,'_ she thought. It was still his fault if the boat was now on fire. _'But if he hadn't casted that lightning spell… I would've…'_

Zelos spotted land up ahead, swung his bag on his shoulder and stepped on the edge of the deck. "Are you serious?" she asked, stopping him, "Are you planning to swim all the way _there_? That's madness!"

He shrugged, "It's better than waiting to die here in the flames," he explained.

He had a point and the boat _was_ starting to crack from all over, filling with water, but still…

"I'm sorry, Sheena," he apologized, "For this… for everything." His eyes looked different again, Sheena noted. He looked truthfully sorry, as if he really did blame himself for what happened.

"It's fine… you saved me anyway…" she smiled at him. She didn't want to dwell on the subject any longer.

"Ah! Hold on now, the Great Zelos Wilder hasn't saved you _yet_," he laughed, "I'll get you out of this mess, and _then_ you can call me your saviour, okay?" he smiled cheerfully.

She was happy to see him gradually coming back to his normal cheerful self, but, "But… what are you planning to do?"

He smiled again, "First," he said as he took off his vest and gave it to her, "It's cold, so put it on."

She_ was_ cold with her shoulders exposed and all. "Right," she said, taking it and putting it on despite the icky feeling all the blood on it left.

"Second," he continued smiling. He closed his eyes and materialized his golden wings, almost matching the fire in brilliance. He opened his eyes to see Sheena's dumbstruck face.

"You… you… have wings…" was all she could manage to say.

He laughed, "Well, I am the Chosen," he explained, but that didn't change her expression, "Pretty, huh?"

She just nodded.

"And finally," he scooped her up as she gasped in surprise. "Argh, Zelos! Not again, come on, let me go!" she protested. Zelos just laughed as he took flight. Sheena screamed in surprise and threw her arms around his neck, "Never mind! Don't let go, don't let go, don't let go!" she squeaked, making him laugh even harder.

They landed on a beach not far from a city, not sure if it was Palmacosta or not, because if that was the biggest city in Sylvarant, that was just sad from a tethe'allan's point of view. Zelos was lying on the cold sand, catching his breath from the flight. Sheena sat beside him, stroking Corrine's fur.

"Thank you, Zelos," she quietly said as she got up and walked towards the city. He watched her go without moving. He knew she was strong and everything, but… right now, with the wind blowing in her hair and his vest she was still wearing, she looked vulnerable… and he swore to never let any harm happen to her ever again.

Sheena stopped and turned back, "Aren't you coming?" she asked.

Smiling, he lifted himself up, without forgetting his bag and followed her in the city.

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**Author's note: ~= )**

**Did you like it? Cuz I diiiid! ^^**

**Chapter 6 coming up as soon as I can finish it. I have to warn you, it might take a while.**

**I need review to keep going, you know.**


	6. Chapter 6: Welcome to Palmacosta

**Warning: ****This chapter may be kind of boring... I didn't know what to do really, cuz I realized that there is absolutely nothing to do in Palmacosta. If anyone out there knows an activity or something to do in Palmacosta, please tell me.**

**So, here goes chapter six!**

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**Chapter Six**

**Welcome To Palmacosta**

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****.

Yup, it was Palmacosta. The sign at the entrance pretty much gave it away with 'WELCOME TO PALMACOSTA'. They found the inn, paid for the night and headed to their room, a very small room with two beds. Some things never change though. Sheena had locked the perverted Chosen outside the room while she took a shower. "Aww, come on, Sheena, I wanna go to bed!" he complained rather loudly.

"Do you mind?" someone shouted him. Zelos turned to see who it was. "People are trying to sleep here!" It was that young elf boy that was part of Sylvarant's Chosen's party. "In case you hadn't noticed, this is a hotel! You know, where people sleep!" and with that the boy slammed the door shut.

He chose to ignore the little brat. "Sheeena! I'm covered in blood and I wanna go to sleep!" he complained again.

The elf boy reappeared from his room with… a ball on a stick? He couldn't make much more of it as it flew to his head. Everything after that was black.

"I'm coming!" Sheena said, happy to have made him wait in the hallway all this time. She opened the door but saw no one. "Zelos?" she asked, taking a step forward, but tripped over something.

"What the?" she saw what tripped her. It was the familiar red-head lying on the floor with a bump on his head. She let out an annoyed sigh as she got up. "Seriously, I leave you alone for a few minutes and this is what happens?" she asked the unconscious Chosen while pulling him in the room and closing the door behind her.

After throwing him in bed, she turned off the lights and claimed the other bed. A lot ran through her mind before she could finally fall asleep.

.

Sheena's sleep was disturbed by a strong light hitting her eyelids and a wet rubbing feeling on her cheek. She opened her eyes to find the source of the disturbance: sunlight was brightly lighting the room, and Corrine was by her side licking her cheek for her to wake up. _'Morning?'_ she thought still half-asleep, _'Wait! Corrine!'_ She threw her covers off, thrilled to see her friend alright. The summon spirit smiled happily. "Corrine!" she said, taking him in her arms for a hug, making Corrine's bell jingle.

She heard a soft complaint as the red-head shifted in his sleep on the bed that was beside her, revealing his bare chest. Blushing madly when her eyes gazed upon him, she almost fell out of bed. _'Wh-When did he? What happened to his shirt?'_ she thought, completely blown away.

He probably just took it off when he got his senses back from whatever had hit him in the hallway yesterday.

Sheena grew mad at herself because her eyes never wanted to look away from him. Of course he wasn't bad looking, far from that. The sun was shining beautifully on his red flaming hair and pale skin. It gave him a sort of heavenly glow and at that moment, he truly did look like the angel he was destined to be.

Out of words and maybe sort of dazed, Sheena found herself sitting on the floor by his bed, resting her head on her arms. Glinting in the sunlight, the red-headed Chosen's Cruxis Crystal caught her eye.

She saddened as she stared at it. She didn't know if killing Sylvarant's Chosen, who seemed like the nicest person alive, was the right thing to do. Killing her to save the people of Tethe'alla seemed right at first… but, now… She just didn't know anymore. And now that she was staring at the Chosen from her world, to think that if she didn't kill Colette Brunel, Zelos would be the one to die.

She hesitantly lifted her hand to caress Zelos' Cruxis Crystal. One thing was for sure. She did not want this man to go anywhere. She swore she'd find a way.

There was no more time to think when Zelos slowly opened his eyes. She jumped away as fast as she could and raced to the bathroom, shouting him to get ready while doing so.

Zelos slowly got up and ran a hand through his hair, only to find the icky sensation of blood and the never-leaving smell of smoke. He threw his covers off the bed and rushed to the bathroom door. "Sheeeeenaaa! I still need that shower!" he complained, hands slamming on the door. He stopped when he heard the answer she was giving him: her laughter.

That was how he wished he could start every day for the rest of his life: with her laughter.

After the desired shower and all the time Zelos took to get himself ready for 'his hunnies of Sylvarant', the pair decided to stock up with provisions, but ended up walking around town since they had no idea where were the shops here in Palmacosta.

"How about we split up?" Sheena suggested.

"Whaat? Don't you like being with me?" Zelos complained.

Sheena just sighed irritated and took the stone road that led to the port.

"I bet you don't even have money to pay!" he called.

"Of course I do!" she called back.

He didn't want to go and get all paranoid over her being alone. He just hoped she wouldn't run into Sylvarant's Chosen. That girl didn't deserve to die for Tethe'alla's sake, much less for him. If someone was going to die for his world, it was going to be him, whether he'd like it or not.

His mood darkened, Zelos walked across the bridge and to what seemed like the main plaza. At his left, stood a large building that looked important, on his right, a sort of big church and a school.

'_Might as well pay her a visit,' _he thought plainly and entered the church. As Tethe'alla's Chosen, he _did_ have a duty to go to church.

He walked and sat quietly so he wouldn't disturb the few people who were already praying. He didn't particularly want the attention of the priest either so he wasted no time to get on his knees and lower his head for a prayer.

'_Goddess Martel… If you really are there watching over us… Feel like telling me _why_ you separated the two worlds?'_

He waited for an answer he knew would never come.

'_Can't you see that what the Chosen here is doing and what I'll be eventually forced to do is worthless? What's the point when all the Chosens from Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are playing ping-pong with the fate of their world?'_

'… _Maybe I have no right to speak as a Chosen, but my whole life has proved to me how unfit a Chosen I am… I'm sure Seles told you that already…'_

"Pastor!" someone called as soon as they walked in the church. Zelos turned to look at them, finding that female voice familiar.

"Chosen One," the priest said. Indeed it was her, Sylvarant's Chosen, and her party.

Zelos watched the friendly conversation between her and the high priest. He didn't remember having such a relationship with the Pope in Tethe'alla. Last thing he knew, the Pope was out to get him and had sent prisoners after him so all the church's power would be his. '_Heh… wouldn't be surprised if he ordered my death as soon as I set foot back in Tethe'alla.'_

Zelos walked out of the church, but not without an evil glare from the elf boy when he recognized him. He noticed the man in purple recognized him too. He didn't care enough to bother thinking of what he would do about him being in Sylvarant, far from where he was supposed to be.

Soon enough he spotted Sheena with a bag full of food and other necessary items. "Zelos!" she called to him when she saw him, "I got us a ride to the Hakkonesia Peak! A _real_ ride!" she added.

Zelos hurried himself to her, "Are you gonna keep telling me how better you are than me at everything?" he asked her playfully and offered to take the bag from her. She almost threw the bag in his arms, making Zelos almost drop it.

An old man was waiting for them just outside of Palmacosta. Zelos saved his comment for when they were sitting in the wagon and off to Hakonesia Peak.

"Oh yeah sure, an old man is a much better ride," he said sarcastically.

"What? Zelos!" she exclaimed, "In Mizuho, elders are to be treated with respect and dignity! Stop saying that!"

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**Author's note: And there you have it.**

**Chapter seven follows the game's story guideline at the House of Salvation where you find Sheena praying. If anyone has some suggestions for the following chapters, please go ahead, I'm kind of running out of ideas, but I know how it ends so I can't finish it now.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Angel's Kiss

**Hey favorite readers! ^^**

**Here's the seventh chapter you've all been waiting for. I'm sorry! It took way to long for me to get it finished. ****I'm already working on chapter 8, but I can't say it'll be ready soon. I don,t want to promise anything!**

**Thanks to Faux Promises for all the help she's given me! And thanks to the singing old man in Rodeo Ride Tour for being awesome! :**

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**Chapter Seven**

**The Angel's Kiss**

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****.

"Um, Sheena?" Zelos asked after the long and silent way to their destination, "I'm pretty sure this isn't Hakonesia Peak…"

Indeed the place they were at was far from looking like a mountain. It just looked like a pit-stop of some sort. All there was here was something people in Sylvarant called House of Salvation.

"Looks like a House of Guidance," Sheena agreed.

"Old man!" Zelos called to the elder who was feeding his horse.

"Zelos!" the ninja from Mizuho scolded.

Tethe'alla's Chosen ignored her and continued, "When are we heading to Hakonesia Peak?" he asked.

"I was thinking of taking a rest here," the old man explained apologetically, "Is there something wrong?"

"Actually we -!" Sheena elbowed Zelos in the side before he could continue.

"It's fine, thank you," Sheena answered instead.

They watched the man smile happily and continue rewarding his horse for his work.

"Well, then… This is an inn too, right? I think I'll go take a nap," Zelos said and turned for the House of Salvation.

"Finally some peace and quiet!" Corrine said loudly and climbed on Sheena's shoulder, earning himself a nice pat on the head from her.

"_Annoying little thing…"_ Zelos thought, _"Sure, anything that summon spirit does always makes her happy…" _He rubbed his forehead in frustration, _"Why am I getting jealous over a summon spirit? Corrine's her best friend… I'm just…" _he sighed and flopped down one of the beds on the second floor. He told himself he was just still tired from the long flight to Palmacosta. He tried to materialize his wings but was unable. His wings were out of mana. He laughed a little as he thought about how they had crashed on the beach the previous day.

_How long had he been flying? Was this ocean ever coming to an end? All he could remember was that it was beginning to feel like too long._

_He couldn't tell anymore. His vision had gotten blurry and he wasn't able to feel his arms and feared he would drop his damsel in distress since he couldn't feel her in his arms at all. Therefore, he had been holding on to her as tightly as he could. _

"_Zelos! Are you trying to break me or something?" he heard Sheena complain as he felt her pushing against his grip. Her foggy brown eyes looked up to him. Wait, why were her eyes foggy? He blinked a couple times to try to focus his eyes on her, but it was useless. He could hardly see the worry forming in her features._

"… _Are you alright?" she asked, "You're really pale." He was happy he could at least hear her voice._

"_Do…" he breathed, "do you see land?" he asked, ignoring her first question. _

_Her hair swished in his face as she turned her head around, which didn't make it easier to see. "Yeah, I see it, we're almost there," she said and turned back to him, hair swishing at his face again. He noticed her eyes widen at something behind him, but quickly she tried to reassure him, "Hold on, okay?" she said, putting on a smile. That could only mean trouble. _

_He couldn't find his voice, so he nodded, trying not to look in a too bad condition, but he soon realized that nodding should have been the last thing to do. His vision went completely black and he felt the body in his arms slip. Last thing he could remember was a loud splash._

_Everything after that was only vaguely registered in his mind. He remembered the taste of salt water and not being able to breathe. He could tell someone had been shaking him because of the nauseating feeling in his stomach. And then there was the stinging pain to his face. _

_There was nothing but darkness and he knew he was going to die, cursing his death as he saw it coming. What happened next was unexpected. Instead of death, something so soft and tender that was truly heavenly made contact with his lips for only an instant._

_That's when he was pulled away from the darkness and back to consciousness in the blink of an eye. At the time, he had been sure he'd just been kissed by an angel, but breathing had taken top priority. He was breathing for dear life and he started to panic because he couldn't get in as much air as he wanted to. _

_He jumped as an angry voice made itself heard. "You idiot! Don't do that!"_

_At suddent notice, he hadn't recognized Sheena's voice, but she sure recognized her fists hitting his left arm. He was glad he could see perfectly well again when he saw her, not so much when her eyes started to water. The panic had eased and he could breathe with more ease. He could concentrate on something other than breathing, like Sheena's tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. He had scared her._

"_You stupid Chosen!"_

_He smiled and laughed. Luckily he knew how to change her state of heart. "Come on hunny, this is Sylvarant. I'm not the Chosen here remember?" he teased. He laughed again as Sheena's expression turned into frustration, "It wouldn't hurt to cut with the hitting too," he added playfully. _

_He watched her turned away stubbornly and going to Corrine's side, picking up his unconscious body and petting the wet fur. It made him realize how soaking wet he was and tried to wring the water out of his hair. _

_Soon enough, he felt her eyes back on him, but when he turned to look at her, he felt dizzy and his eyes blurred again. It didn't last long, but it was enough to give him a headache. Bringing a hand to his head, he saw Sheena's concerned face as she looked at her unconscious friend on her lap._

"_Don't worry… that thing's a summon spirit, it'll be fine by morning for sure," he attempted to reassure her. _

"_That 'thing' has a name, and you know it," she said, glaring at him. _

_He let out a small laugh, "Alright, alright…" he let the topic fall, leaving room for an unwanted silence that made him remember about the darkness he had just went through. His tone became somewhat serious, "… Anyway, Sheena," he rubbed his aching head, "don't ever let me do that again, _please_." _

_Her brown eyes stared back at him before she gifted him with one of her smiles. _

"_Alright, I won't" _

"_Promise?" he had asked her, returning her a smile of his own. _

_Warmness filled his heart when her smile grew. _

"_Sure, I promise."_

And with those words in mind, Zelos Wilder could finally fin sleep.

.

"Stupid Chosen… making me pay for his room…" Sheena mumbled as she paid the receptionist a 100 gald.

The old man had said they'd be ready to leave in about an hour. Spotting the Spiritua Statue, She decided to take her opportunity alone to pray, with Corrine outside playing with a dog and Zelos upstairs sleeping.

"_Goddess Martel, I ask of your guidance. What should I do? Is it really the right thing to assassinate Sylvarant's Chosen of Regeneration? She's the people of Sylvarant's only hope. I have the choice to either kill her and protect Tethe'alla's prosperity for the next few years, or let this Chosen sacrifice herself for her world, bring Tethe'alla to its destruction and force Zelos to do the same back to Sylvarant." She sighed in frustration, "I don't want Zelos to die… but I can't just kill Sylvarant's only hope! … There has to be another way…"_

"Either way… Tethe'alla will suffer. Please help me save everyone." She spoke out loud.

"Sheena!" Corrine called as he quickly ran into the House of Salvation. She was on her feet as soon as she heard Corrine's bell. Corrine had already disappeared and at the door stood the young swordsman with spiky hair, already guarding the blonde girl behind him, Sylvarant's only hope.

Upstairs, Corrine was trying to wake Zelos up. He wasn't going to let those people downstairs defeat Sheena again. "Get up you lazy Chosen!" Corrine said and bit Tethe'alla's Chosen's ear. "Owww! What's with you and ears?" Zelos asked the little summon spirit. Quickly explaining the situation Corrine disappeared and went back to Sheena's side.

Zelos nearly dashed to the stairs, but came to an immediate stop when he spotted _him_. That Cruxis member had spotted him too, so there was no use in hiding anymore.

As he eyed the man in purple, he heard the red one speak.

"Let's go…" he said, turning around to head to the door.

But Sheena couldn't just let them go. Feeling Corrine's presence and hearing him say Zelos was there for backup, she gathered her courage and called after them.

"Wait!" They all turned back to her. "This meeting shall be your end!" she tried to convince herself what she was doing was right, "I shall defeat you right here, right now!"

"This is a place of prayer," the guy in red explained, "Let's not start that here."

"O…okay…"she said not knowing what to do. This _is_ a place of prayers. What was she thinking? She couldn't start a fight here.

"My name's Lloyd," he continued, smiling, "What's yours?"

"What?" she asked. Was he really asking for her name like they were kids?

"Lloyd?" the young elf boy asked him. Sheena could tell he was just as confused as she was.

"Ah, I'm Colette," the Chosen of Sylvarant added, "I'm still inexperienced as a Chosen, but I promise I'll do my best to regenerate the world."

That's when Zelos turned back upstairs. Clearly there wasn't going to be a fight, so the best thing he could do was get away from that Cruxis guy and hope he didn't have direct communication lines to Yggdrassil.

That was also when the Cruxis member made his way to the door.

"I never asked you your names!" Sheena protested.

"Oh, you're right. I'm sorry" Colette apologized.

This was ridiculous. "I…I'm trying to kill you!" Sheena continued.

"I know," Colette started, "But if we just talk, I'm sure we can come to an understanding."

How could they come to an understanding? Sheena had orders and she had to respect them, whether she liked it or not. This was getting annoying, "Are you listening to me?" she asked.

"I'm listening. But um… Ms. Assassin…" Colette began but was interrupted by Sheena.

"It's Sheena!" she cut in, having no more patience, "Sheena Fujibayashi!"

"Sheena," Colette restarted, "You were praying. Payer makes one's heart grow. I pray, too. So I'm sure we can understand each other."

She hoped they could, but knew that reality wasn't that simple. "I…I was praying that I'd be able to kill you…" she told her, "Forget it! I lost my concentration! You'd better be ready next time!" she said and vanished in a smokescreen, escaping to the upper floor where she could find Zelos.

The only problem was that Zelos was nowhere in sight and the window class was broken.

"…Zelos?"

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**Author's note: I wrote this chapter differently at first, but Faux Promises suggested to write the "flashback" (it isn't _really_ a flashback) in Zelos' perspective. She was so right!^^ it's way better like this!**

**Thanks Faux ! =)**

**And people, maybe you haven't noticed, but there's only 4 reviews for this story =( ... Come on leave your thoughts or suggestions, heck you could even write a review saying you don,t know what to say. It always feels good to be appreciated =)**

**So, don't forget to review =P**


	8. Chapter 8: Take 2

**Hello :)**

**I know it's been an extremely long time since my last upload, but no one is telling me to keep writting, so what's the rush, right? (that was a subtile way of asking for more reviews!)**

**Anyway, I'll stop complaining here and give you chapter 8! ^^ (oh.. just realized I didn't choose a title yet.. ok ok, think...)**

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**Chapter Eight**

**Take 2: Zelos's Loss**

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It didn't take much for Zelos to notice the member of Cruxis following him. It certainly wasn't a good thing, it meant he had to explain himself, and he had to come up with something _fast_, unless he wanted to get himself killed by Yggdrassil, of course.

"Chosen One," the man said sternly.

Zelos had his gameplay set and the act could begin. He turned around and cleared his throat.

"Look buddy," he said, opting for a friendlier approach, "I kinda noticed that you where tagging along with the _Chosen_, maybe you haven't noticed but you know that blonde girl with you? _She's _the Chosen of Regeneration, not me" he continued, holding up his hands in defense.

But the Cruxis member glared at him, and Zelos knew he wasn't fooling anyone. "What are you doing here, Chosen One?" he asked.

The red-head quickly dodged the question, "Heh… you're going to have to tell me who you are first, cuz, how could someone from Sylvarant know my identity?"

The man knew best not to linger very long away from the others so he didn't hesitate to give him an answer. "Kratos Aurion, one of the four seraphims of Cruxis. Now, Chosen One, what are you doing not in Tethe'alla?"

'_Aww shit'_

This Kratos guy knew everything. He was one of the four seraphims… only Yggdrassil was higher in rank than them!

The only way to get out of trouble was simple and something Zelos was quite skilled at: lying.

"Whoa, I didn't realize you were so high ranked, my apologies," he saluted him in a sloppy way that only made the man glare some more. "As for my reasons for being in Sylvarant," he continued casually, "looks like you already met my reason though: little miss assassin down there."

As soon as the word 'assassin' passed his lips, the seraphim unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Zelos' neck, who wasn't startled at all. It was exactly what he expected form Cruxis, nothing new.

"So you're going against us," he concluded.

Zelos snorted and pushed the sword away with his finger, "'Course not, I'm here to stop the assassin in a more… pacific way, if you know what I mean," he didn't like referring to Sheena as an assassin when he knew she was far from it, "As if I'd let one of my hunnies die for this awful cause!" he laughed.

"Very well," the seraphim sheathed his sword and turned away, never once letting his guard down. He stopped and turned his head towards Tethe'alla's Chosen only slightly before continuing, "But I am on a mission to assure the Chosen of Regeneration's success, and I will not hesitate to kill the ninja if she gets in the Chosen's way."

Those words sent icy chills down Zelos' spine. There was no way in hell was he going to let Sheena get herself killed by this guy.

"Then I'll follow my orders, you follow yours and no one gets in each other's way," he shrugged.

With impressive speed, the Cruxis member charged at him with his sword at hand. Zelos just had time to attempt to block his attack. The seraphim's sword landed a hit on his left shoulder and the impact of the attack sent Zelos through the window. Shards of broken glass penetrated his skin and he fell to the ground. Not managing to land properly on his feet due to the short fall and the fact that he couldn't get his wings out yet, Zelos landed painfully on his back as the shards of glass dug deeper into his flesh.

As Zelos stained the dirt with his blood, his attacker descended smoothly to the ground thanks to a pair of wings similar to his own, but this man's were blue and violet.

"Do your job," Kratos started, "Or you'll also be in the Chosen of Regeneration's way."

And with that, he left to return to Sylvarant's Chosen and that Lloyd guy's group.

"Damn him," Zelos cursed as he sat up painfully and clutched his shoulder. He had no other choice now; he had to stop Sheena in any way possible from killing this girl Colette. He didn't want her to die for Tethe'alla's sake, but he knew just as well as any other Chosen that she would die anyway. Though dying for her world seemed like a better choice.

"Zelos? Zelos!" he heard his favourite ninja call from the room he was just a moment ago. He took a breath to call back to her, but regretted it quickly since it pained his back even more. Luckily she came to the broken window and saw him in his state. "Zelos! What in the world happened to you? Hold on I'm coming!" she said and rushed out of the building. Soon she and little Corrine were at his side.

Before she could ask what had happened, Zelos let out a relieved sigh, "Good, you're safe."

Her expression turned slightly annoyed, "Well you're obviously not! I'll go get a priest, wait here," she said and rushed to her feet and back into the House of Salvation, telling Corrine to watch over him before doing so.

Zelos had wanted to protest and ask her to simply take out the pieces of glass from his skin, that way he could heal himself, but judging on how he had failed miserably to defend himself from the seraphim, Kratos, he probably didn't even have enough energy to use his healing arts right now.

Corrine's constant starring was getting on his nerves already, "Can I help you? Maybe give you a picture or something?" he asked the creature.

"Something is troubling you," Corrine simply stated. Zelos immediately glared at him, "Well… maybe you haven't noticed, but," he tried to explain calmly before snapping at the summon spirit, "I have dozens of shards of glass in my back and my wounded shoulder has made me completely useless to protect my banshee!"

"Sheena can defend herself!" Corrine started to argue while Zelos' expression changed and became a look of pure curiosity.

"Are you blind?" he asked honestly, choosing to ignore him. "How can you see if I can't even see your eyes? Do you even have eyes, or are those slits just mere holes?" he laughed, teasing him.

Replying in the blink of an eye, Corrine bit down on his arm, _hard_, making Zelos yell in pain. He tried swinging his arm in all direction to get Corrine off of him, but his wounded shoulder restrained his movements greatly. _"Smart little pest,"_ Zelos thought. He didn't want to start hitting the summon spirit. Imagine what Sheena could do to him then.

He didn't have to suffer much longer as he saw his beautiful saviour come back with the help of the priest. Plus, Corrine had disappeared before the priest could spot him.

"Sheena, hunny!" the red-head beamed.

… Earning himself a whack on the head for the nickname.

At least it reassured her. He was well enough to still get on her nerves. It meant he wasn't it that a bad shape, despite what he looked like right now.

She let worry spread across her face as Zelos was too busy complaining of the pain the priest was inflicting him when he tried to pull out the shards of glass from his back. Sheena's eyes wondered across his body, analyzing his wounds, trying to keep her eyes from landing on his pained expression. She concluded that it was his shoulder was definitely the worst.

"It would be best to bring him inside," the priest stated calmly, "I'll be able to tend to his wounds properly there, plus, it looks like the Goddess is sending rain upon us."

"Alright," Sheena agreed, "Wait, hold on," she protested when she saw the priest starting to lift Zelos of the ground, "Let me help you!"

Zelos protested as well, "Hey, hey, hey! I can still walk ya know." He wobbled away from the priest before being steadied by a helpful hand. The Chosen's eyes widened. Sheena was the one supporting his weight.

"At least be careful!" she said, annoyed he refused the help of the priest. Zelos just stared.

Without another word, she tugged him forward and into the House of Salvation.

After a painful 15 minutes, bandages were carefully wrapped around Zelos' body. The priests had left as soon as the job was done.

Sheena, who was sharing the room of the injured, had stayed awake despite her tired eyes while the Chosen had drifted off to sleep pretty quickly due to his weekend state. It wasn't that Sheena was particularly worried about him or anything, by now she knew that Zelos could call upon his healing arts; she just wished he would wake up and heal himself already. But the priests had said Zelos' body was lacking mana to maintain a state of consciousness.

Then why wasn't she sleeping yet? They had said he would be alright by daylight so what was she doing still awake? She pulled her eyes away from the man in the bed next to hers to look around. Even Corrine had curled up on her bed and was asleep by now.

Her eyes didn't stay away from him very long. He was sleeping on his chest so the wounds on his back wouldn't get worse, his long flaming hair mixed up a little in the bandages. She smiled, oh how he won't like finding his hair in such a mess when he wakes up.

Instead of figuring out what to do with the Chosen of Regeneration, Sheena watched the Chosen closest to her steadily breathe for the rest of the night, or at least, for what she could remember before finally falling asleep.

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**Author's note:****Chapter 9 should come easy enough. Don't forget to review! : (**

**Find me on youtube to watch fan-made Tales of Symphonia videos = ) - username: shadowrouge4ever**


	9. Chapter 9: Are We Even?

**(Finally)**

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**Chapter Nine**

**Are We Even?**

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He opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was her, sleeping on the bed next to his in a foetal position to keep warmth.

He watched her sleep a little while longer before getting up, making him remember his physical pain that SOB had given him yesterday. He pulled his blanket over her body as best as he could with his one fully functional arm. With the new weight landing on top of him, Corrine woke up and made his way back on top of the covers, where he sat and watched Zelos carefully without a word.

Zelos walked in the bathroom and became unhappy when he saw his reflection in the mirror. He tried to undo the knots the sticky substance the priests had use on his wounds had left in his hair, but found his hair to be stuck in his bandages.

Irritated, he practically tore the bandages off, revealing ugly injuries. Feeling his mana balanced, he wasted no time to First Aid those wounds away. Seeing his torso back to being beautiful, despite being still a little pale, He flashed his reflection a wink and a flirty smile.

Now for the hair, it looked horrible. How could he possibly think of impressing the hunnies with it? He walked back to his bed where his bag was and grabbed every hair product he could find. He glanced at Sheena's sleeping face once more before heading in the shower, witch prove to be a very cold shower, much to his discomfort.

He proceeded to clean his hair as fast as possible while still getting the job done. He just wanted to get out of there.

Soon enough, he was out of the bathroom, towel around his waist, only to find out the sleeping ninja was awake. She was looking at him wide-eyed with a blush tainting her cheeks. Zelos decided he had the decency not to comment on this. Instead, he gave her a teasing wink, making her blush grow as her eyes desperately searching for something else to catch her attention.

She settled them on Corrine and started petting him quickly and rather roughly. Corrine found himself clawing at the sheets to stay steady.

"You know…" Zelos laughed softly as he bent down to get his clothes, "This makes us pretty even…" He didn't have to explain why. She knew exactly what he referring to.

"Whaaat!" her angered eyes returned to him, "There's no way that's even! You saw everything! You pervert!" she yelled at him, fully red with embarrassment as she remembered his 'curiosity towards the unknown', like he called it.

"Oh," he smirked, "I see…"

Sheena watched as his hands made their way to his waist and to the towel. When realization struck, she screamed like she was 12 again and threw the covers over her head. Her heart was racing while Zelos was laughing his head off. "I-I didn't mean that! You stupid jerk! Get dressed! You're Tethe'alla's Chosen for crying out loud!"

"Alright, alright," he said, still laughing.

"There, happy?" he asked after a few seconds.

Letting out a relieved sigh, she was about to take the cover off but Corrine warned her he was lying and was still completely naked, waiting for her eyes.

"ZELOS!"

He doubled over laughing, "Corrine! That was so close!" he complained.

Corrine bared his teeth, "Remember, Chosen, I bite." He warned.

Funny how he immediately stopped laughing.

Sheena was now the one giggling under the covers as he threw on his pants, gulping. He saw what that man-made summon spirit could do to his arm, he paled thinking if Corrine attacked his… no he didn't want to think any further.

Clearing his throat, he told her she could look and to trust him.

Since Corrine had no objections, Sheena peered from under the covers. Indeed, he was dressed. He stood further away from her bed and was tying two of the three wooden closures of his pink vest.

She blinked at him as she watched him tug up his gloves. Odd. Why was the tingling feeling in her stomach gone? She hid a blush as she remembered it had been there when he walked out of the bathroom…

He noticed her eyes on him and laughed, "Oh sure, now you look at me."

She couldn't hide her smile.

He loved that smile.

"I guess I'll just wait for you outside," Zelos started towards the door, "you know, if I don't want my manhood ripped away from me…" he faked a laugh.

She nodded and laughed as he left the room and headed outside.

A few minutes later, Sheena found the red-head throwing a stick to a dog.

"So, are we going…" she trailed off as she noticed there was no more carriage in sigh.

"Yeah… the old man left without us." Zelos explained.

"Well that's just great."

"Hey, Sheena?" Zelos asked after a moment.

"What?" she looked at him.

"You still want to go on with this mission?" his voice held seriousness but he features weren't.

Sheena pondered that for a moment.

No matter how Sylvarant needed Colette's success at regenerating the world, she accepted the mission for Mizuho's prosperity, for her grandfather who was in a coma by her fault, for Orochi who seemed to be the only one who believed in her success, for the forgiveness of her childhood friend, Kuchinawa and for the acceptance of her village.

For all the people who were already struggling in life, for all of those who would lose their lives. She had already enough blood on her hands and she certainly didn't want anymore.

She wouldn't allow her failure.

"Yes."

"Really?" he almost looked surprised, "You're going to save the people of _Tethe'alla_?" he asked. He'd thought the people of Tethe'alla didn't deserve their prosperity, at least not in Meltokio, not with the huge gap between the riches and the poor. Maybe it was different in Mizuho, but he doubted it. He knew how the people of Mizuho sent her alone on this suicidal mission. It was the perfect way to get rid of the one who killed so many of their people. He knew, even as a Chosen One, he didn't feel like saving Tethe'alla much. He guessed Sheena was just a better person than he was.

"Yes." She answered more firmly, almost glaring at him, "why are you asking me this now?"

"Hm?" he returned his attention to her, "Oh! Um, 'cause I saw them head that direction," he pointed in the south-east direction, "just a short while ago."

"Whaaat?"

Half a second later, her bag was thrown on her shoulder and she tugged on Zelos' arm to get moving.

"Wait, wait," he asked calmly, going back to pick up his bag and taking all his time doing so just to get on Sheena's nerves.

He must of took too much of his time because when he turned back to her, she was already dashing after the Chosen of Sylvarant.

"Whoa! Sheena wait!" he called and ran after her, Corrine running by his feet.

Of course she never did wait or slow down. This worried Tethe'alla's Chosen. Was she really that willing to end someone's life? Something told him it had to be because of Mizuho, it just had to be because of the Volt incident. He knew it had been 12 years now. Was it still bothering her? Then again, who was he to judge? It's not like he was past his torment of a childhood and his cursed title that doomed him since he was born.

Still, he had to find a way to stop her, if he didn't want her to get killed, and that, he wouldn't allow. Sheena was the only one Zelos would willingly give his life for, her and his sister stuck in the Southeast Abbey because of him. He didn't _want_ to die. It was his _duty_ to die. Die and save the people of Tethe'alla. Die and doom the people of Sylvarant.

Goddess he hated the Chosen system. Wasn't there another way? Another way that wouldn't make Sheena get herself killed just so the ungrateful people of Tethe'alla could live a couple years longer? Just so he could live longer?

He had to think of something. But what was there really to do? If Sheena were to go back to Mizuho as a failure, once again, they'd probably have her head for all he knew.

What could he possibly do?

But as he ran, Sheena's pink ribbon flowing behind her was all he could focus on.

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**Author's note: huh.. I realized the links to my Sheelos videos I left on the last chapter don't work.. Why's that? (very confused :/)**

**AND OH MY GOD THE TRAILER FOR TALES OF SYMPHONIA THE UNITED WORLD IS OUT ON YOUTUBE! EPICNESS WILL ARRIVE THE 23RD NOVEMBER!**

**!**


	10. Chapter 10: We

**Here it is everyone ^^ Enjoy**

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**Chapter Ten**

**We..**

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"Would you like to cross over to the Thoda Geyser?"

"Yes please."

After hearing from this girl who's nametag had 'Candy' written on it, that the Chosen had just left for the Thoda Geyser, Sheena Fujibayashi quickly paid the 200 gald necessary and ran outside, where Zelos and Corrine were waiting for her already on the dock.

"There is no way, I, the great Zelos Wilder, am getting in these washtubs…" the red-head complained, crossing his arms and stubbornly looking away from their means of transportation as Corrine ran up to Sheena and jumped on her shoulder.

"Fine," she said as she got in the washtub with no hesitation. She had to stop the girl, Colette, and it wasn't by waiting after Mr. High-and-Mighty to get in she was going to stop her and her group.

"What? Wait!" Zelos called after her when he noticed she had left the dock and was rowing her way to the Thoda Geyser.

'_Great_'

He couldn't let her go alone! That was the whole point of him being here in Sylvarant. So, soon enough he was in a washtub, rowing and complaining. His complaints didn't last long for this was truthfully fun. He challenged Sheena at a race as he passed her, her temper immediately flaring up, making her accept the challenge unwillingly.

Zelos declared victory his, though Sheena had argued she wasn't even racing. "Sure you weren't" he had replied sarcastically with a wink.

With a grunt, Sheena stomped to the geyser, focussing on finding the Chosen's group. They weren't hard to miss; the guy in red could be spotted a mile away.

Some sort of water path caught her attention first. The Chosen and her group were walking across as if it was nothing. Sheena ran to catch up but was blocked by a white and green monster with huge ears who barked at her.

She stepped back, a little confused. What was this thing?

"What the hell is _that_?" Zelos laughed as he walked up to the 'thing'.

The 'thing' growled and barked some more. Sheena spotted the group arriving at the cave.

"Tss, Corrine!" she said sternly. Corrine jumped off of her shoulder and began growling back at the big-eared beast, ready for the attack.

Just then the water path fell into the geyser.

Sheena's victim and her party had got away and were off to release the next seal, which she figured it to be the seal of water, thanks to the Imperial Research Academy's information on the Summon Spirit of water, Undine's location.

The weird creature that blocked her path howl happily and went to rest under the shade as it waited for their return.

"huh," the red-headed Chosen commented dully, crossing his arms in a very 'I give up' way.

And that's when her fury went loose.

"DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT ANYTHING!" the ninja yelled furiously, "You're such an idiot! If I don't get rid of that Chosen," she pointed vaguely towards the cave, "everyone in Tethe'alla that will feel the consequences!"

"Eh, Sheena…" Zelos tried to stop her when he noticed people were hearing everything, everything they shouldn't know that is.

"AND YOU!" she ignored him, "You! You should be the first to be worried for Tethe'alla's sake! But look at you! YOU DON'T CARE AT ALL!"

She shot him one of the most painful glares he had ever seen coming from her, the tears that filled her eyes wasn't soothing the pain either, but I was evident it wasn't directed to him.

But this news wasn't new to him at all and he let all her words slide off of him. Slowly he attempted to wipe those tears away, but, of course, she pulled away. He was surprised she didn't smack him. Instead, she walked away, towards the sea.

"I won't give up."

Zelos smirked.

"I won't be a failure once more… I'll bring honour to Mizuho," she continued, "I owe it to my village."

He easily spotted hesitation in her. _'She's so easy to read,'_ he thought. But being easy to read meant she was honest, a quality you hardly came across in Meltokio, and a quality he loved about her.

"You should go back to Tethe'alla… back to Meltokio" she said with a somewhat shaking voice. She turned to face him for what would probably be the last time, if he listened to her and if she were to fail her mission.

With no more words, she turned back and left him there.

Zelos watched her walk away and sit on the rocks that served as steps. _'So she's planning on waiting for them here, huh?'_

His smirked returned.

Sheena was already thinking of a plan to get the green-eared beast out of her way and how she could defeat the girl, Colette's party. The red-clad swordsman she knew she could take care of without much difficulty thanks to his lack of skill. Unfortunately, the other swordsman, who was much stronger, wouldn't hold back on her, and with the mage backing him up and the healer healing their every injury she could manage to make, she had slim chances of winning…

Her first fight against them came to mind along with the image of Zelos' wounded body.

'_But we were both unprepared,'_ she reassured herself.

'_We were both…'_

She glimpsed in the direction she had left him. Her eyes widened in surprise.

Zelos was gone.

He had listened to her and was heading back to Meltokio.

She stared at the empty spot he had left, her eyelids lowering.

"_I _was unprepared…" she softly admitted.

The salty wind of the sea blew in her hair as she watched a wave crash on the rocks.

"Then let's get you prepared!"

Sheena yelped in surprise and was on her feet in an instant. Pink and Red caught her eye and she instantly realized who the person was.

He laughed,

And she was speechless.

Zelos took her silence as a sigh saying she wasn't mad and gladly filled her silence, a smile stretching across his face.

"Let's head to the next seal, mkay?" he playfully suggested.

The red-headed idiot was gifted with the presence of one of her smile he loved so much.

She tried to hide it as best as she could and marched pass him. "Then let's go."

The journey to the Balacurft Masoleum was going to be especially long if they we're to walk by foot, and Zelos wasn't going to make the mistake of using his wings again, something they both agreed to. If they were lucky, they could catch a ride on someone's carriage, but they didn't have much to offer in return. Well, not something they were willing to give anyway.

The ninja led the way with Corrine right by her side and Zelos, who was dragging his feet a good distance behind. Tired and whinny, he guessed that's when it showed who had gone through ninja training and who and had trained among the nobles who didn't want to ruin their clothes. Zelos let out another tired groan, annoying Sheena yet again.

Sheena didn't know if she would be able to survive the trip to the next seal with the red-headed idiot by her side. Speaking of witch, she took a few more steps away from him for good measures, his smiling face turning into a pout while she glared at him. But, being the outcast of Mizuho for twelve years now, Sheena didn't want to be alone.

She let out a small sigh, thankful for every minute Corrine was by her side. Zelos' curiosity perked when he noticed Sheena's features go from irritated to calm. He watched her watch Corrine, who was chasing a butterfly, making his bell jingle with every movement.

His curiosity quickly gone, Zelos tiredly groaned again as he stomped on the ground for emphasis. "That's it!" he complained as he stopped walking, "I _demand_ an escort right now!"

Sheena turned around, completely exasperated to see him pointing to the ground, his back straight, his chin high, and his left hand on his hip. It was his noble side of him showing its ugly face. _That_ was probably the side of him she hated the most.

She crossed her arms while she waited for him to realize no escort of his was coming to pick up his lazy self.

Soon enough, he dropped his arms and whined. "Could we at least set camp?" he asked pleadingly. "I'm beat!"

A smile tugged on the ninja's lips. "You said you were beat an hour ago, but look how much ground we covered. We'll be at Hakonesia Peak in a little bit," she tried to reason with the tired Chosen One.

"You said that _two_ hours ago!" he retorted.

"Well I wasn't going to say we were still a day away with you complaining all the time!"

"A day!"he was exasperated now, "Now we're a day away?"

"More or less…" she thought she sounded cheapish, "I think, well according to the map..."

Corrine chased the butterfly purposely away further, he could tell this was going to take a while and he didn't want to hear yet another one of their little arguments.

"Let me see the map!" the stomped his way to her and she gave her the map without a complaint. She did know how to read a map. You simply didn't pass as a ninja or a mizuhan if you didn't.

He ran his finger across the map, calculating for a second in his head. "Exactly 22 hours and 37 minutes…" he stated with his nose still glued to the map. "You've got to be kidding me!" he said now truly annoyed at a map and threw it to the ground.

"How'd you –" Sheena began to ask, finding his statement surprisingly precise.

"It's simple mathematics, Sheena" he answered, guessing her question.

"Oh yeah… You only excel in math." The ninja decided to poke some fun out of him.

"Well I won't walk another step." Zelos finished, apparently ignoring Sheena's comment, which surprised her a bit. He dropped his bag and unzipped it swiftly.

But Sheena had a mission. She couldn't just take a break whenever she felt like taking one.

"No! Zelos! We don't have any time to lose! The Chosen can't make it to the next seal!" she protested.

"So? It just gives her more time to live, more time to be happy," he simply replied as he stretched out his sleeping bag.

"It gives her more time to accomplish the journey of regeneration!" the ninja stomped on the ground, her hands in fists.

"Then let her!" he stared at her, his icy eyes fully serious.

Thunder took Sheena by surprise, maybe just as much as Zelos' words did. Rain poured down on both of them.

"Ah! That's just great!" Zelos whined again, picking up his already soaked sleeping bag.

Sheena was ignoring him. Was he giving up on Tethe'alla? How could her Chosen care so little about their world? Her eyes went from blank surprise to blind fury and she slapped him hard across the face.

"You wanna set camp! Fine! I'll go there!" she pointed under a tree not too far away, "And you - !" she stomped when she saw the look in his eyes.

Through the rain, his eyes seemed to have changed into a mirror, his baby blue irises now reflecting the storm above.

Surprised was replaced once again by fury and she just turned away and stomped her way to her resting spot for the night.

Watching her walk away again for what was beginning to be too many times, Zelos welcomed the rain, as it lighted out the fire of irritation he had burning inside him, leaving him with the pain of the burn.

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**Author's note:**** What? I hope you weren't expecting and all complete fuffy romance. If you were, I'm sorry = P**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it. I'll be working on chapter 11 (WHoa! Already? Wait.. no, this is taking a lot of time) really hard during the holidays hopefully.**

**Thank you = )**


	11. Chapter 11: Crossing Hakonesia Peak

**Helloz! Without having to wait any longer, cuz I know I make you wait enough as it is, here's chapter 11!**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Eleven**

**Crossing Hakonesia Peak**

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Drops of rain were dripping on her cheek, making her eyelids twitch in annoyance and causing her to finally wake up.

Corrine had probably returned to his mana state during the night, Sheena thought. The rain must've kept him from sleeping.

But what about Zelos?

She stood to get a better view of the place that she had left Zelos to sleep for the night, which she was now realizing was really far for nothing. Normally, red flaming hair, pink and white would be spotted instantly on the green grass due to contrast, but there was no sight of him at all.

Finding him gone reminded her sleepy head that she was mad at him, which made all of her senses wake up instantly.

"ZELOS!"

She stomped to where he had been for the night just to scream at his non-present self some more. When that plan didn't work, she tried Corrine.

"Corrine!" was all she needed to say to summon her best friend.

"What's wrong, Sheena?" the little summon spirit asked as soon as it appeared, already sensing the anger in her heart.

"Have you seen that idiot Chosen?" she asked him quickly. Zelos was making her loose even more time than he had the day before.

Corrine looked around quickly, making his bell ring, "Where has that dumb human gone to now?" he asked himself, indirectly answering Sheena's question.

Well this plan wasn't working either. So Sheena repeated the first one, "Zelos! You idiot! Where are you?" she yelled to the sky.

With no reply, the irritated assassin chose a third plan, "Fine! I don't have time to play games with you," she got out her map roughly. "Looks like I'm leaving you behind!" she called.

She waited a bit; actually hoping for a complaint and that he would come running yelling, "Don't leave me alone in this crazy world!", but he didn't.

"Let's go," Corrine proposed, obviously mad at Tethe'alla's Chosen for acting like a child.

"Yeah," she mumbled between a couple of 'idiots' and 'jerks'.

He had a sword, he had healing arts, he had gels, and he even had his shield. He'd be perfectly fine on his own.

Convinced, Sheena followed her map to Hakonesia Peak.

Hours of walking and hiking the mountain had passed before Sheena could finally see the top of Hakonesia Peak. She and Corrine sprinted the last few yards in relief. Zelos wouldn't be able to say she'd gotten herself lost.

Why was it that the piercing laugh she heard among many others reminded her so much of someone?

Wait a minute…

"Oi! Sheena!" the laughter was still present in the familiar voice, "It took you long enough!"

She stopped running as she heard him, just as she arrived on the smooth terrain of the nearby house, where a junk graveyard laid beside. This place seemed to be a resting area for travelers crossing the mountain. She was surprised to see a dozen people there. Corrine vanished before anyone could see him.

Noticing the man who had ditched her this morning and plenty of female company, Sheena decided to simply glare holes in his dumb head.

Quickly noticing the dark glare he was receiving, the man in question politely gave his farewell. "Forgive me hunnies, but our time together has come to an end, for I must depart." With complaining and disappointment, the women let him go as he bowed somewhat thankfully.

"Hey, missed me?" the red-headed Chosen winked at her as he got closer.

Of course, the answer he got was a pounding.

"What's wrong with you? You abandon me in the woods to fool around with those girls?" She asked him angrily, adding a few kicks while doing so.

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Sheena, hunny, please!" he falsely begged while on the ground protecting his pretty face with his arms, "Let me explain."

Letting out a furious sigh, she stepped away from him, waited for him to get up and explain himself. It did sound reasonable, and she could always hit him again after he explained, since she doubted there was any good reason to leave someone like that.

He dusted himself off, rubbed his shoulders in attempt to subdue the painfully brutality they had endured, and explained.

"They passed by in their carriage during the night, and, not wanting to walk anymore and being my curious self, I asked them where they were heading. Turns out they were going to… um, what's the name? Uh… it started with an 'a'… No matter, they said they had to pass through the Hakonesia Peak. So I figured I'd hop on and have fun right?" he laughed and Sheena's glare was back on.

"And you didn't tell me?" she cut in, anger fueled again.

"Heh… Listen, Sheena, hunny, we –"

"Don't call me that!"

"Alright, Sheena, sweetheart, wh –"

"JUST Sheena! Nothing else!"

"Got it, got it," he winked, "but Sheena, the ticket to ride along was to participate."

"Participate?" curiosity spread across her features, "in what?"

He laughed like an idiot.

"Let's just say the girls weren't just ridding on the carriage last night," he finished with a wink.

Her face tainted a deep red as she came to realization. "You pervert!"

She hit him again.

He laughed again, "Just think of it as consideration for you!"

She groaned angrily, cheeks still as deep of a red and hitting him once more, "Let's just go!"

"Aww, Sheena, come on! I'm starving and the sun will be setting soon!" he managed to stop her with his words, "I heard there's some guy living in that house," he pointed to the said house, "maybe he'll let us in for shelter, and if we're lucky, food."

She _was_ hungry, and the sun was already low. Only now did she realize that her stubbornness had kept her hiking nearly all day. There wasn't much of a choice.

"Fine," she mumbled and led the way to the house of the man who could maybe help them.

"I got this," he told her, lifting a hand in assurance.

Zelos knocked on the door and an answer was heard almost immediately, telling them in an obviously annoyed voice that it was open. Zelos opened the door and stepped inside.

"Hey, man, do you mind if we crash here in your place?" he asked the short little man who wobbled on his cane as he walk to meet them. Judging by his red nose, the Chosen guessed this man was drunk.

He gave Sheena an uncertain look, but before he could look back at the little man, a shoe was thrown at his head and he felt to the ground in surprise.

"I'll have you know that I won't stand guys like you in my house! So unless you want to buy something, get out!" the man yelled before stopping completely when gazing upon the ninja from Mizuho as she stepped inside to help the red-head who was now on the floor.

"Oh my!" he almost gasped and his voice gain a sudden ring to it, "what luck I have to have such a breathtakingly beautiful over for the night!" He walked now much faster towards them, hardly needing his cane anymore.

"Wh-what?" embarrassment creeping to her cheeks. Many had complimented her this way before, but she knew it was something she'd never get used to.

"Come, come," the man took her hand and led her to the beds. Zelos threw the shoe off him in an annoyed fashion. He knew he didn't like having this man eyeing every single inch of his favourite hunny.

"I am Koton, and such a beautiful creature like you can stay here as long as you like."

"Ah, um… Thank you." Talk about feeling uncomfortable…

"Mister Koton, sir," Zelos started as he got up and walked up to the man. Sheena noticed venom in his voice, "You just told us to get out, so we'll be leaving now," he said, offering his hand for Sheena to take it.

Reminded of his actions back on the boat on their way to Palmacosta, she reached to take it, but Koton whacked his hand away.

"Nonsense!" his voice changing again as he spoke to Tethe'alla's Chosen, becoming brutal, "I specifically told _you_ to get out!" Sheena watched Zelos' eyebrow lift in annoyance as this Koton man tapped lightly her hand. His voice changed once again as he spoke about her, "If the lady needs a place to stay for the night, she's fully welcomed here for as long as she likes!" he smiled kindly and Sheena tried to as well, "Now you! Get out!"

Sheena was surprised to see the man actually whack Zelos out of his house with his cane. She immediately wanted to follow, but Koton's attention was right back on her. She could hear Zelos shout angrily through the door and call her name.

"If you want to bathe, the bathroom is right over here," Koton encourage.

Even if she had really wanted to wash up, she certainly wasn't taking any bath here. It was clearly time to leave.

"It's quite alright, but I need to get going, we've still got a lot of road to do and I can't leave him alone outside," she explained as nicely as she could.

"No! Please stay!" he begged, "I've seen that kind of ladies-man before, and believe me, that kind of man never stays with one girl more than he has to. Exactly the type to simply get what they want and leave! You, my sweet girl, deserve much more than a guy like him. I can assure you this spellbinding man will find another girl by day break!"

Nice wasn't going to get her out of there. Swiftly, her cards were in hand and ready to strike. Zelos was now threatening to kick down the door.

"I'll be leaving now."

Seriousness took over his features before he swung his cane at her head like a weapon. Being the ninja she was, she dodged it easily and attacked with her Pyre Seal, knocking him out immediately.

The door crashed to the ground along with the red-head. He got up as fast as he fell, completely alert, but calmed down quickly when he noticed Koton lying on the ground.

"Oh," he sighed a breath of relief, "You had me worried there," he admitted.

"Heh," she walked to him, "I _can_ handle myself you know, that's why I'm here chasing after Sylvarant's Chosen."

He didn't want to get into _that _subject again. After all, he had only really went with those girls for relief of life's difficulties, something he'd been doing back in Meltokio quite often, with all of his Chosen duties weighing on his shoulders.

So ignoring it was.

"Yeah, I keep forgetting you're not the typical uptown girl who constantly needs saving here and there," he laughed, "And don't get me started on the princess."

She laughed too and headed for the door, "Looks like we'll be sleeping in the mountain."

"Looks so, whoa!" he noticed a beautifully crafted dagger popping out through what seemed to be junk Koton collected, "Come to papa!"

He twirled it around in the light, amazed by the actual joy and excitement it was giving him. He had to keep it.

"What are you doing?" Sheena asked suspiciously as he walked outside with the dagger.

"Whaaat?" he laughed, "The guy totally deserves it! Trying to assault my favourite hunny…"

She sighed in defeat. The guy really did deserve it. "Fine, let's just get going."

"Yay!" He hugged her, but not long enough for bashing, "I'll call it… The Assault Dagger!"

She laughed, "You name your weapons?"

"Of course I do, they need a name fitting for The Great Zelos!" He pointed his new dagger to the setting sun.

"Then what's your sword called?" she asked, actually curious.

"Ah! Well… it doesn't have any," he admitted, "I kind of just grabbed it when I ran after you…"

His eyes stayed glued to hers, making her blush a little. There he was again, the sun setting behind him making him glow. He was just being his beautiful self without meaning to, no. What was she thinking? Of course he knew how good he looked right now. He was Zelos after all.

She laughed, "Come on, we need to find somewhere to sleep, preferably with water."

He smiled his goofy smile, "Then after you, princess," he said, bowing the way he did at his many noble events.

It's was funny how she would've normally been bothered to be called that. But today, by this very annoying man, it made her smile.

.

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**Author's note:****I'd like to clarify that I do not believe that Zelos screws around with every women he sees. He's most likely a virgin, due to his Chosen title and probably more his own morals. But it is debatable. What do you think?**

**I'll try keeping track of the weapons the two obtain, assuming they would gain them before they meat up with Lloyd. Although, I think Sheena can only get her cards in Tethe'alla, so that won't be a problem. So welcome the Assault dagger everybody! Say hi to the readers, Assault Dagger! ... Forgive it, it's quite the shy blade. ^^  
And everyone can agree with me that Koton is creepy O_O**

**I'll get chapter 12 up as soon as I can manage! I'm so happy about being accepted in art that's it's distracting. ^^'**


	12. Chapter 12: Stew

**Same usual appologies for the latenest, but school's over so here goes!**

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**Chapter Twelve**

**Stew**

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"Come on, man! Can't you just let us through?" Zelos complained to the two men guarding the way to the other side of Hakonesia Peak.

"No, sir, as we said before it is forbidden to pass here without a road pass," one of the guards explained.

"Well we don't have one!" Sheena was getting impatient herself.

"Then you cannot pass," stated the same guard.

No.

Sheena hadn't traveled all this way for nothing. She had to beat her prey the Chosen to the Balacurft Masoleum and accomplish her mission. She had to. For Tethe'alla, for Mizuho, for her people.

She quickly threw a smoke ball on the ground. It exploded and created a powerful smokescreen. She immediately jumped on the arch above the gate, only then realizing she had forgotten Zelos, who was coughing in the smoke along with the guards.

"Sheena!" he called to her, trying to find her through this thick smoke.

"Over here!" she answered him. Despite seeing hardly a foot in front of him, he knew where she was just by the sound of her voice. She was above him. He looked up, narrowing his eyes. He couldn't see her but somehow, he knew she had perched herself on the roof of the gate. He heard the gates creek open. He rushed to the exit Sheena had opened for him, but was blocked by one of the guards.

"You're not going anywhere!" the guard said as he pointed his lance at Zelos, though he seemed panicked. Zelos guessed this sort of thing had never happened to them before. He watched the lance that was only a few inches away from his face, and followed it to the guard's helmet. It was strange, Sheena's smokescreen had been so thick that he could hardly see a thing moments before, but now… It seemed as though it was already fading away judging by how clearly he could see the guard before him.

Another lance was poked in his back. "Zelos! Come on!" he heard Sheena call to him. Obviously she couldn't see the situation he was in, which made him believe she couldn't see him. But how? He was able to see everything around him as clear as day, why couldn't she? Did these guards have difficulty seeing him as well? If so, he chose to use this new ability to his advantage for the moment, and question it later.

He fought them off without the use of his new dagger. There was no need to kill these two guards, so he simply knocked them out with a few well-placed kicks.

He clearly heard running footsteps and clanking armor quickly approaching. More guards. He thought them to be about fifteen. This was a problem. They shouldn't be wasting any more time here.

"Close the gate!" he ordered Sheena. He checked the guards for any supplies.

"Right!" she called back before jumping down from the arch, catching the gate and pulling it down along with her.

Having found nothing among the unconscious guards of much use, Zelos slid through the gate before it dug into the ground.

The arriving guards halted at the gate and yelled angrily to them to come back, but Sheena and Zelos were already running down the mountain. They cursed the treaty that stopped them from going after them beyond the gate. It wasn't their territory to control.

By the time Zelos and Sheena reached the bottom of Hakonesia Peak, both fell to the ground as they lost their footing due to the increased speed of the decent.

For a moment, all that was heard was the two breathing heavily to catch their breath, until Sheena started laughing.

The red-headed Chosen was surprised, maybe was he too caught up thinking about his new improved senses, wondering why they were suddenly given to him. But, Sheena's laughter was contagious, making him laugh as well.

Loud grumbles from his stomach brought their laughter to an end. It made them realize that they hadn't eaten in almost two days. Sure, exspheres multiplied one's strength and could therefore permit going without food without too much consequence. But now it was time to restock.

"Let's find a water source first," Sheena suggested while getting up, "we'll make ourselves something to eat tomorrow. Right now, we need sleep."

"Alright," he agreed, getting up also. "So, where do we look, Oh-Great-Ninja?" he teasingly asked, hands on his hips.

She glared at him before replying matter-of-factly, "Just keep your eyes open for any signs of water."

"Got it," he waved as he past her and took the lead, making his new Assault Dagger dance in his hand after throwing his bag on his shoulder.

Sheena followed the red-headed swordsman closely behind, careful not to lose sight of him in the poor lighting the darkness offered them. Zelos seemed to move easily through the woods, which was odd. She didn't remember him being so stealthy, but little did she know that it was only due to his newly enhanced vision.

After only twenty minutes or so, Zelos stopped and swiftly turned to an east direction. Sheena quickly stopped herself.

"Why are you stopping?!" she asked roughly. Her need for sleep was getting to her.

"I hear water," he stated, making his way in the new direction.

"I don't hear anything," she replied a little annoyed. She had been trained for this, if she wasn't hearing anything, then that meant there wasn't anything.

Zelos wondered if he should inform her of his new senses. Maybe they'd be gone tomorrow. Maybe it was just the urgency of the situation before, but then again, dealing with the sailors on their way to Palmacosta from Izoold had been of much greater urgency, and so had been his encounter with Kratos back at the House of Salvation, and his enhanced senses hadn't shown themselves then. There was also the fact that she probably didn't believe him right now, and what other argument could convince her to follow.

Ultimately, he didn't want her, or anyone, to worry over his sorry self. So he came up with a better way to make her follow him.

"Hunny, that's just 'cuz you fail as a ninja"

"WHAT?!"

And there was the pursuit. All he had to do was lead her straight to what seemed to be a flowing stream. He just had to make just she didn't catch up before they got there.

Sure enough, there was the stream.

If only she hadn't pushed him into that dreadfully cold water.

After lighting a small fire, they agreed they were too tired, and wet, and cold, to gather food that night. They'd have time for that tomorrow. The exspheres would help them through the night easily.

At least his sleeping bag was warm.

Sheena woke up first the next day. She came to the conclusion that she was much more of a morning person than Zelos was. So, feeling the tinniest bit bad for pushing him into the stream last night, she quietly stepped past him so she wouldn't wake him and proceeded to fill their water bottles. With that done, she glanced back at his sleeping form and decided to take the opportunity to wash herself off, but not without having Corrine stand as guard. You could never be too careful with him around.

Enhanced hearing presented its disadvantages, as the simple splashing Sheena was making managed to wake him up. He groaned tiredly in annoyance. From what the people at the Martel Church back in Meltokio had explained to him, Zelos almost wish he didn't have to sleep anymore, that way he wouldn't be woken up so easily.

After his enhanced vision had also shown its disadvantages when he had first opened his eyes, only to shut them tightly due to the increase brightness of the sun, his eyes came into focus on the furball that was Corrine. The little summon spirit had approached him as soon as he saw he was waking up, determined to protect Sheena's privacy.

A glare was evident on the fox's face, and with the water splashing and Sheena nowhere to be seen, Zelos came to the conclusion Sheena was bathing. He glared back at the fox creature for good measures and sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He wasn't in the mood for a beating so early in the morning and therefore certainly wasn't going to try anything.

Instead, he remembered how hungry he was. He could hunt some wild whatever lived in this part of Sylvarant. Although, he should warn Sheena he'd be gone for a while.

"Sheena?" he half groaned, half called, still very tired.

"Don't you dare come over here!" she warned menacingly.

"Sheena…," he started, laughing a little, "it truly hurts to know how little you trust me," he said as he faked hurt. "I'll just be off hunting for food," he explained, "be back soon." He grabbed his new dagger which he had to carry by hand since he had no sheath for it yet.

"Ah- Alright!" she called back with a note of surprise and annoyance in her voice. He headed through the woods. "Watch over her, furball," he called to the summon spirit before disappearing in the woods.

Damping her hair with her ribbon she had not yet tied around her waist, Sheena stepped in their makeshift camp, where Corrine waited for her patiently. She tied her long pink ribbon nicely and proceeded to gather wood bark with her knife from the nearby trees she hadn't striped last night to make a fire.

Thinking of making some sort of meat stew, she gathered water from the stream in one of the pots she carried in her bag after setting up the bark for the fire. She used rocks to keep the pot above the future flames and proceeded to start the fire. After all, she knew how to do so, unlike a red-headed noble who relied on his fire casting spells.

Zelos arrived not long after that with a dead wolf in his arms.

"A whole wolf, Zelos? Seriously? You could've caught some rabbits instead," she commented.

He laughed a bit, "Well I really wanted beef stew," he explained, "Good, you've got the water."

"So I'm supposed to make whatever _you_ want?" she asked, emphasising her annoyance. "Your servants at home are the ones who are supposed to make whatever you want!"

"Come on, Sheena, who do you take me for? I know how to make beef stew," he smirked proudly to himself.

"Oh really?" she asked, amused.

"Really!" he insisted, laying the wolf down. He noticed she didn't believe him. He took his dagger and readied it to cut the beast in pieces, but quickly became hesitant. What parts was he supposed to cut out?

Sheena raised an eyebrow, noticing he was questioning himself. "It's already dead, it won't feel anything," she offered, thinking he was hesitant about cutting the animal to pieces.

"Yeah, I know…" he began, his mind running full speed. He had never actually made beef stew before, but since it was his favorite, he had watched his servant prepare the dish many times, only the meat was already well cut… At least he knew he had to take the fur off.

He started cutting at the animal's leg, all the while checking Sheena's expression as she watched his movements silently. She didn't _look_ disapproving, so the leg must be a good choice.

It was disgusting. He had taken his gloves and vest off to protect them from blood stains, although his pants weren't so lucky. Sheena watched him pale remarkably as he cut the animal apart. She had offered to do it, seeing he was clearly uncomfortable with this. What else could she expect from a noble, from the chosen himself? He had assured her he could and would do it, and she didn't protest any further.

Finally, nicely cut pieces of meat cooked above the fire in the pan Sheena had also brought. He hadn't even thought of a single cooking tool to bring when he left Tethe'alla, too focused on bringing her back alive.

If there was one thing Zelos hadn't paid attention to, it was the broth. He could only remember the color and texture. That didn't help at all…

He noticed Sheena had taken out spices and other very useful items like canned cream and milk. Surely the texture was caused by cream, and he spotted a couple of spices that could easily be accused for the color.

So he tossed all of it in the pot, placed it over the fire and hoped for the best.

The smiled Sheena wore on her lips wasn't the most reassuring… And she offered him a cloth to wipe the sweat off of his face.

What had possibly crossed his mind to want to cook something he hardly knew how to cook so early in this all too bright morning that never stopped hurting his eyes?

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**Author's note:**** I promise the next chapter will be up soon. R&R**


	13. Chapter 13: Incompetence

**Here's chapter 13!**

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**Chapter Thirteen**

**Incompetence**

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It wasn't that Zelos' try at beef stew wasn't edible or completely repulsive. No…

It just wasn't something you could call good… yeah, that's it.

Zelos had handed me a small serving of what he said was his speciality, and tasting it, I quickly realized he wasn't what you would call a very good cook.

I must not have hidden my disgust well enough, because he quickly grabbed the bowl from my hands and tasted it himself. He took a good spoonful, and I wanted to protest. He'd regret it badly.

And regret he did. I watched his eyes widen in disgust before he spat out his so-called speciality, his noble tongue not caring to endure the taste. He threw the bowl angrily at the rocks. There was an angry pout visible on his face as he turned to stare at the stream.

I'll admit I felt bad. He had obviously tried so hard, and it had only led to failure. I felt hunger again. He was probably hungry, too, but now I knew his wounded pride wouldn't let him from doing anymore cooking anytime soon. So what other choice was there? I took my knife and started cutting out proper pieces of meat from the animal.

I noticed Zelos curiously watched, anger had apparently left him and he now stared at my movements with a flicker of irritation mixed with depression. He looked angry and sad that he couldn't accomplish the simple task. Beef stew wasn't hard to make, and experience taught me it was easy to learn.

So without more thought, I said to him, "Like this."

He didn't say anything, but he shifted back to face me.

I explained each step carefully as I prepared the dish. His studying eyes never left my hands.

I didn't mean to finish so much faster than he had… really! Handing him his serving, I noticed I had only poked at his pride some more… Nevertheless, he eagerly took a spoonful to his mouth and his features lightened up noticeably. I couldn't help but smile as I tried to cover another blush rising to my cheeks.

"And you're a good cook, too?" he asked in disbelief, resting his spoon back in the bowl, a look of discouragement crossed his face before he covered it with a teasing smile. I didn't have time to ponder over it before he gave me his teasing remark. "Here I thought you were only gifted in the chest area."

How I loved the noise frying pans made when they were wacked across a red-headed Chosen.

After a few minutes of wild complaints and pointless arguing with Corrine laughing in the background, we finally were able to finish our meal, and soon enough, we were on our feet and back on our way to the Balacruft Masoleum. Colette's party is probably catching up quickly. Then again, they're five, while we're only two. We can move much faster than they can. Yes. We'd make it to the next seal before them!

We were closer to the next House of Salvation than we thought. You can imagine how Zelos complained… So we decided to stop, Zelos insisted on trying his 'specialty' again. It'd be close to noon by the time we'd get there anyway. "So Sheena, when we get this," he started as he readjusted the wolf he carried in his arms, "to the house of whatever, you'll teach me, right?"

I spun around to face him. He wore his typical goofy grin. "Teach you?"

His eyes widened, "Yeah."

"But I can't teach you!" How could I? I learned by my own through experimentation, so should he!

"Of course you can!" he insisted, pushing my protest aside, "Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

I felt myself blushing. This was stupid. "Why do you care about making some stupid beef stew?"

I was surprised to see him pause for a second before he spoke, "Sheena, hunny," he flashed one of his over-confident smiles as I grumbled about the nickname he had gave me, "You see, the Great Zelos Wilder captures the hearts of all women everywhere, Tethe'alla _and_ Sylvarant! I can only imagine how hard it is for you to restrain yourself from showering me with your love right now –,"

"What?!"

He ignored me and continued, "For I, the Great Zelos, am the most handsome, charming and sexy man throughout the world, but get this: I'm able to admit that I'm not the greatest cook. And I'm smart enough to know that girls love guys who can cook. Therefore, I must learn how to cook!"

There was a flaw in his explanations other than his stupidity; I had to point it out. "Idiot, you never cook. People cook for you! Why would _you _go out of your way to cook for someone else, when you won't even cook for yourself?"

"Aww! Come on, can't a guy learn a thing or two?" he half-laughed, half-whined as he shifted the wolf in his arms again. I guess it was getting heavy.

Of course he was allowed to learn something. But, I don't know what, but something felt strange. I had a hard time to believe that he wanted to learn to cook simply to learn to cook. Maybe I was wrong, but maybe I just didn't know much about him after all. We must've walked in silence for too long, because Corrine took the opportunity to speak before we arrived to the House of Salvation, where he'd have to return to his card.

"You feel…" Corrine began. Concentration was noticeable in his little eyes. He was probably trying to read someone's emotions. Corrine had some sort of link with the feelings of others. I couldn't come close to explain it, but Corrine liked trying to develop that ability. And that was just what he was trying to do now. "Incompetent?"

I watched Corrine watch Zelos expectantly. He had kept walking when we had slowed to a stop. He didn't turn around, he kept walking and I could feel the grin sliding on his face. "No surprise there, Sheena isn't the most confident hunny there is."

"Why you-" Corrine cut me off.

"I'm talking about you, _Chosen_!"

He turned then. Only then did I realize that Corrine had never guessed wrong before. Sure, he had only tried on me, and I wasn't the best at hiding my feelings so I'm probably easy to guess, but Zelos? He was the first person Corrine had tried on besides me.

Zelos rolled his eyes, and flashed a smile before speaking. "Do you know who you're talking to? I would've thought the Chosen was quite the opposite of incompetent. Just for that, you're off my people-I'll-have –to-save-list."

"I don't need saving!" Corrine retorted.

"Who cares? This thing is heavy, my feet are killing me and the House of Salvation is _right there_. Let's just go!"

And with that the quickened his pace and soon enough he was there and was dropping the wolf to the ground.

"I'm never wrong." Corrine pouted.

I looked down at him, trying to resist a smile forming on my face. "Don't worry, I believe you." Corrine happily gave his thanks and disappeared into his card. That left me to wonder if and why Zelos felt incompetent. Like he said, the Chosen is practically the opposite of incompetent. I made a mental note to ask him later when he'd be in a better mood. I ran up to him and he was already whistling some tune I didn't know, but by the sound of it, it sounded pretty high-classed to me.

"Took you long enough, I'm starved!" he exclaimed, rubbing his already ungloved hands together, "Let's get started." He proceeded to get things out of the bags when I noticed something pulling lightly on my obi. I turned to see a little girl tugging on it slightly. Zelos noticed her too and had the decency to wait before cutting the animal apart. "What can the Great Zelos do for such a pretty little lady as yourself?" Zelos asked her with his gentleman manners. The little girl blushed and hid behind my leg. Zelos tried to look at her face again while purposely approaching his head too close. I shoved him away and squatted down to meet eyes with her.

"Hi," I gently said to her.

She smiled but didn't say anything, although she glanced behind me at what I assumed to be the wolf. That's when I noticed a woman standing over by the fence watching us. She must've been this girl's mother. The two looked awfully poor…

As I watched the mother and pated the little girl's head, I asked Zelos to prepare stew for four. He dropped what he was holding, surprised at my words. Leave it to a noble to not care about the poor…

"Ah- Alright," he answered before letting his dagger carve the meat of the beast.

The little girl squirmed under my hand. "Are you hungry?" I asked her and her eyes lightened up, "Go tell your mother we're having beef stew for lunch!"

She smiled wider and ran to her mother. Her mother stared at us in disbelief. It made me feel horrible for these people. People here in Sylvarant were living like the people back home in Mizuho, with the strict minimum. I smiled at her, I couldn't possibly ignore them.

"Eh, Sheena?" I turned to the red-headed noble, he had stopped cutting and was pointing at men, some with families, who looked just as tired and starved as the girl's mother. "Should I make some for them, too?"

At this point I only wondered if one wolf was enough for everyone here at the House of Salvation. That's why I said I'd go hunt for more. Zelos immediately protested, but when all of the hungry people gathered around the meal he had started, there wasn't much that he could do. He could only add a quick "Hurry back!" before I was gone and out of sight.

It took no time at all. Sylvarant seemed to have so much more monsters out in the wild than in Tethe'alla. Was it due to its deterioration? If Colette doesn't regenerate this world… I wouldn't be surprised if monsters start attacking villagers. If that's not already happening…

In the dazzling sunlight above, the children were running around the lawn of the House of Salvation and men and women were gathered around a flame where the man with flaming red hair handed food around. Through the crowd, he caught my eyes when I came into view. He smiled brightly and after giving telling the crowd to serve themselves he ran my way. "Sheena!"

He seemed happy to see me. I smiled and held up my three rabbits, "Hey."

"Great, you got more," he said as he came to a stop before placing his hands firmly on my shoulders.

I didn't push him away, I was much too curious as to why he seemed so excited and proud of himself. So, instead, I just blushed.

"They like it," he started, his smile growing wider, "They really like it! I did it, Sheena, I cooked something good!"

He smiled so much it tickled my heart, and laugher bubbled out of me.

He laughed happily along, too. "Come on, Sheena, you have to try it!" he said and grabbed my hand. "Ah! A-Of course!" I tried to suppress another blush as he laughed and pulled me into a run back to the crowd of now happy people.

At that moment, I knew. Zelos was not like other nobles I had met during my time in Meltokio. Who could've known he cared for such a simple thing as cooking stew. Could it be that everything he does is to prove to himself that he is competent?

Isn't his duty as the Chosen enough?

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**Author's note:**** I'm working on chapter 14 right now. R&R please = )**


	14. Chapter 14: Good and Bad

**Oh wow, 3 chapters uploaded in one day! ^^**

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**Chapter Fourteen**

**Good and Bad**

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"Goodbye! Take care of yourselves!"

Sheena waved the people at the House of Salvation goodbye. It was time to continue her journey, and beat Sylvarant's Chosen to the Balacruft Masoleum.

"It pains my heart to have to leave you, hunnies," Tethe'alla's Chosen began, "but, you see, the Great Zelos Wilder must depart, for duty calls, but do not fear, I will be back."

"Yeah, yeah, now leave our wives alone and leave already!" one of the husbands told him with both a note of amusement and venom.

"Ah yes, well, then my sweet hunnies, it seems I'll have to leave you in the hands of these men," he sighed, "I apologize."

"What?!" many other of the men called after him as he ran past Sheena, laughing. Sheena ran after the redhead after blinking once or twice. "Zelos, you idiot! What were you thinking?!" No answer ever came as they simply made their way to the Balacruft Masoleum.

"Where exactly was the wind seal?" Zelos asked as he led the way.

"It's among the mountains and close to the sea," Sheena looked around, "we seem to be close."

"Yeah, and look there, up ahead."

Sure enough there was an archway that led to what seemed to be the Balacruft Masoleum, where Colette would release the wind seal if they didn't stop her. They ran up to it and read: _Asgard, the City of Ruins_.

"…the City of Ruins…?"

"Asgard…?"

"Uh, Sheena? Is Asgard some sort of other name the people of Sylvarant give to the Balacruft?" Zelos turned to face her, more confused than otherwise. Sheena immediately pulled out the map they had and both of them studied it carefully.

"What do you mean we've gone in the complete opposite direction?! How could we've been so stupid?!" Panic had arrived in Sheena's mind. There was no way they'd make it to the Wind Seal before Colette and her group now!

"Damn it, and it's almost sunset, too!" Zelos shoved the map in his bag, "let's go!"

The two started running back in the direction they came as fast as they could.

"This is all your fault!" Sheena accused as she ran passed him.

"How is this my fault?!" he argued after passing her just as she did.

"If you… If you…" she couldn't come up with a reason to blame him for the wrong direction, so instead, she blamed him on his behavior, "If you hadn't flirted with the women we would've gone in the right direction!"

"That has nothing to do with it and you know it!" She was being ridiculous. It wasn't like his habit of flirting with women was new. He briefly tried to remember when it had started but that wasn't a time and he wanted to remember.

They pointlessly kept arguing until a carriage was heard behind them. Zelos' eyes lit up. He easily recognized the blacked haired woman in the front who was whipping at the horses.

He stopped running, for salvation had arrived. Sheena stopped a few feet away. "What are you doing? We've got to hurry!"

"I'm getting us a ride," he stated.

How could she argue with that? There was no way they'd be able to keep running all the way to the Balacruf Masoleum.

Recognizing the man she had spent the night with two days ago, the woman stopped her carriage a few feet away from them. "My, what luck are we in," she said and licked her lips and running a hand in her long black hair. Sheena hated this woman already.

Sheena watched Zelos' face change into a very seductive one. "How about another ride?" he asked them as the two other girls came out from the back of the carriage, curious as to why they had stopped, and pleased to see the reason why.

"Oooh! Let him come!" one of the girls bounced excitedly. She had light brown curls that stopped at her shoulders. Sheena didn't like this one either.

"Calm down, Teal, he's not going anywhere," the third girl told her as she leaned on the carriage and unbuttoned one of the buttons on her dress while flipping her brown tress onto her shoulder. Sheena concluded she hated them all.

"If you say so, Bernadette," Teal said, winking at Tethe'alla's Chosen.

Meanwhile Zelos was smiling one of the proudest smiles Sheena had seen on him. It made her sick.

"So, how about it, Laila?" he asked the woman still sitting on the carriage.

'_He knows her name?'_ Sheena thought to herself. Here she thought Zelos' adventure with these girls had been meaningless, but here Zelos knew their names. Maybe there was more to it, or maybe Zelos was the type to collect names. She stayed suspicious.

"Sure, get in the back; you already know there's plenty of room," she answered with a knowing smile. He smiled wildly and walked up to their carriage. That's when Sheena knew she was a third, or in this case, _fifth_ wheel. She started walking back in the direction of the Balacruft Masoleum. Zelos, who was already laughing with Teal and Bernadette, stopped before going inside, noticing Sheena walk away, "… Don't forget to pick up my demonic banshee over there for me."

Sheena growled loudly, turning around to glare daggers at the idiot.

Laila watched her carefully with studying eyes. Sheena could tell then that she was older than her, and probably older than Zelos, too. "Sure," she answered, and Sheena was actually surprised, "Teal! Come drive, Sheena will sit next to you."

"What?!" Teal complained, pouting like a child as Zelos laughed. This girl was definitely the youngest among the three.

Whether they liked it or not, they soon were all aboard the carriage and back on track. Sheena and Teal sat on the driver's seat, where Sheena had demanded to drive so she could be satisfied with their speed. Zelos, Bernadette and Laila all rode within the privacy of the carriage.

Sheena could only describe the ride as horrible. Teal never stopped complaining about how she couldn't spend time with 'master Zelos'. But the absolute worst was that she could hear almost everything going on inside the carriage, basically right behind her. Every sound of pleasure that escaped their lips, especially Zelos', made her want to scream in absolute rage and go on a crazy rampage that include Zelos' death. She made sure that she never missed a single bump in the road just to hear him in pain when the shock of a bump in the road made one of the girls bite too hard. She even considered going completely off track and perhaps drowning them in the river…

Finally, she cut one of the horses free and rode off as far away as possible, swearing never to see that red-haired idiot, perverted, jerk of a Chosen ever again or else she'd kill him.

The sun had long set when Sheena arrived at the Balacruft Masoleum. It was a beautiful sight. The moon and stars shined almost magically on the ruins of the temple. She jumped off her horse and rushed into the already opened door of the temple. She had to hurry! Maybe she could still stop them from unlocking the wind seal.

As soon as she was in, wind almost blew her off her feet. She quickly adjusted herself and ran through the numerous obstacles. Lucky for her, none of them included pitfalls, so it was easy.

Not long after that she heard a voice easily echoing within the temple.

"I'm okay. I promise."

That was definitely Sylvarant's Chosen, Colette. Sheena spotted them quickly. They were making their way back to the exit. That meant she was too late! Colette had already released the seal! She cursed silently before moving in for the attack. For Tethe'alla, for Mizuho, for her grandfather… she had to end this girl's life.

She casted her grandfather's last guardian, the thunder guardian, as she attempted a different approach. She knew she couldn't take all five of them, so she planned to use her guardian as a decoy and strike Colette down.

The bird-like guardian shrieked when it was released from its card. The elven boy fell to the ground, startled, as his sister called out to him. Both Lloyd and the other swordsman rushed to fight the guardian off and away from the boy. That's when Sheena pinned Sylvarant's Chosen to the ground, kunai in hand.

She cried out Lloyd's name in fright. He tried to reach her with all his might, but the purple clad swordsman was faster than both him and Sheena. He knocked her to the ground with great force.

"Kratos!" Lloyd called out, both surprised and so very relieved. Kratos lifted his sword to end Sheena's life, for she was interfering with the journey of regeneration. "This ancient ruin will be your graveyard," he calmly stated as she closed her eyes and awaited death.

"Wait! Kratos, don't hurt her!" Sylvarant's Chosen begged. Kratos stopped and looked at her quizzically.

"Why..?" Sheena asked faintly.

"She's not a bad person," Colette tried to explain.

"Colette…" Lloyd started softly.

"She tried to kill you!" the elven boy argued.

"Genis is right, Colette, this woman is a constant threat. We have to stop her now," his sister agreed.

"Regenerating the world is more important than this girl's life," Kratos explained, "she is interfering with the world regeneration."

"What do you know?!" Sheena spat at him while trying desperately to get out of his grip. "When you regenerate the world, my country will be destroyed!" she yelled as tears began to form in her eyes. "I won't let that happen! I swear!"

Her tears escaped her eyes as she continued to struggle against Kratos. Corrine summoned himself and attacked the swordsman pinning his friend down. It fortunately cought the man by surprise, allowing Sheena to escape from his grasp. She jumped a few feet away and quickly wiped her tears away.

"Wait. What are you talking about?" Colette asked, already doubting she could save her world, "If I regenerate the world, everyone will be saved…right?"

"… This world will be saved!" Sheena told her. She was angry with herself at how she was handling the situation. Finally deciding it was too much, she fled as her tears weld up again. She heard the elven woman yell at her to stop, asking who she was and if she was alone. She also knew the younger swordsman, Lloyd, had run after her. She couldn't let him catch up to her, but her emotions drained her of her strength, forcing her to hide from him.

She was well hidden, something that was natural for her, causing Lloyd to run past her before coming to a stop when he knew he lost her.

"This world?" he asked out loud, "What did she mean?"

His genuine concern did nothing to help her contain her overflowing tears. What if she could convince them to help Tethe'alla? Then again, how could she ask them to give up on their home?

She heard Lloyd run back to the others when they called him urgently. And very soon, she was alone in the temple, left to cry with only Corrine for comfort.

"I can't do this Corrine!" she kept saying.

She kept crying for minutes. Corrine could do nothing but let her stroke his fur as she calmed down.

"Oy! Sheena!"

She held her crying immediately at the sound of his voice. Then she remembered what a jerk he had been earlier and exhaled sharply, letting herself cry a little more.

That sound was all it took for him to know where she was hiding despite all the wind contained within the temple. Recognizing the sound of a girl crying, he had trouble believing Sheena was actually crying. It was something he had never imagined could happen. This worried him. He raced to where he had heard her cry and repeatedly called her name, worried of her safety.

When he was almost there, she revealed herself from her hiding spot. "What do you want?!" she asked him angrily.

"Sheena…" He just stared at her, taking in the sight. She wasn't crying anymore, but her red eyes gave her away. Guilt hit him like a ton of bricks. "Sheena… are you alright?"

"I'm fine! Now I'm not talking to you!" she said, shoving him out of the way. "Leave me alone!"

With that, she ran off.

Zelos stood there, not able to run after her. He didn't know what had caused Sheena to break down and cry… because he hadn't been there in time. And that was because he was fooling around with women who meant nothing to him.

Why must he hurt everyone around him? Couldn't he heal instead? Healing was the job of a Chosen… and here he was not doing it.

"Damn it…"

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**Author's note****:** **Hope you all like it! ^^ I can't wait for chapter 15! **

**Don't forget to read and review please = )**


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